April Fool’s: ROFL or ZZZ?
Does the UK have a desire to be duped this April Fools’ Day?
Come April 1, brands hit us with a flurry of new products and campaigns — some real, most not — leaving people either in awe, or rolling their eyes.
From Tinder’s height verification to The Saucy Fish Co.’s take on classic biscuits, many brands use the day as an opportunity to display their playful and creative sides — and get press, obviously — but do people actually like these jokes or not?
Our UK users, or bees, shared with us what they really think about companies who join the April Fools’ Day bandwagon — as well as their own pranking behaviours.
Through the funny bone to our hearts?
Over one-third of Brits have fallen for an April Fools’ campaign from a brand — and a further 37% with bad memories think they probably have. Are Brits incredibly gullible?
Well, they definitely like to be tricked, as most people think it’s funny when a company pulls an April Fools’ Day prank, and they like the brand more for it too.
“Because actually it shows that the company are human, and aren’t just driven by politics and money,” Male, 35
It’s a great way for companies to connect with their audience in a light-hearted and approachable way. It builds brand awareness and — if done well — gives everyone a laugh.
And why is this important? Because having a sense of humour is key to our sense of self in the UK. 86% of our British bees told us that humour is one of the best ways of connecting with them — so companies that can tap in to this resource have a great chance of creating a buzz around their brand.
But… what about our own pranking habits?
Have you tricked someone into thinking they’d won the lottery? Or perhaps put clingfilm over the toilet-seat to catch a desperate housemate out?
Well, you wouldn’t be alone, because according to our bees, 7 in 10 have played a practical joke on someone, and even more have been the victim of one.
Be aware though — an ‘eye for an eye’ mentality is strong among us Brits! Almost three-quarters are happy to get their own back on someone who’s pulled one over on them, often resulting in a ‘prank war’ that feeds off of friends’ competitive natures — although men are more prone to this than women:
It’s not always fun and games though — 9% of our bees have actually fallen out with someone over a prank, normally while being the ‘prankee’ rather than ‘pranker’. So, what’s acceptable and what’s a dead no-no?
Well, making someone cry is not okay — not according to our bees anyway. Neither is ruining someone’s clothes or phones.
Interestingly, most people also think it’s unacceptable to make someone feel stupid — which on paper seems to be the whole point of a prank. Clearly though, our bees feel the intention really is genuinely just innocent fun — not to upset anyone.
Blurred lines?
As a society, we document EVERYTHING. But, is filming a practical joke a line that turns some harmless fun into cruelty?
Well, only 15% of Brits think filming a prank and posting it on social media is acceptable — but this varied wildly with age. The younger someone is — and familiar to social media — the more acceptable posting someone’s humiliation online is.
The biggest risk then is for inter-generational pranking pairs — think parents and children — who may have very different ideas to what’s acceptable behaviour. As always — know your audience!
If you’re going to be a fool, be your own fool
Being able to laugh at yourself — as a brand or an individual — makes you both likeable and relatable.
But just don’t push it too far — feelings can get hurt, intentions can get misconstrued and competition can take over — and you may find yourself losing fans (or friends!).
So, as a final celebration of April Fools’ Day, here are some of the best pranks our bees shared with us:
“Putting a pregnancy test in my mum’s shopping basket” Female, 22
“My mother in law used to put cotton wool inside some of her mince pies ! It was horrible biting into it,” Female, 63
“Filling a friend’s car to the roof with duck feathers. it was a retaliatory prank for finding 600 rubber surgical gloves filled with helium floating around my flat. I’m allergic to rubber, my friend is allergic to feather dander.” Male, 45
“My daughter took a photo of my phone screen and saved it. I thought my apps had stopped working,” Female, 49
“A fake lottery scratch win and got them to take it to a store to collect prize money,” Male, 51
“When we were younger, my parents would take in international students from the local school. These were generally adults. I taught my mum a phrase in German and told her it meant ‘you’re very welcome’. But it was actually ‘I have diarrhoea ‘ so when the German guests said thank you so much for having them my mum replied with ‘I have diarrhoea ‘ 🤣🤣” Female, 38
“I made my work friend believe that it was a half day and she left at lunch — she got in trouble” Male, 23
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK, carried out in Mar 2019. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
Want to play around with the data yourself? The dashboard is here: use the username aprilfools@streetbees.com, password: analytics.
