Did you know that April Fool’s Day isn’t just a quirk of British humour? The first of April has been used as an opportunity to play pranks with carte blanche around the world for many years.
But how can brands draw the line between a witty April Fool’s Day campaign and a joke that goes too far? This is inevitably trickier when working on an international marketing campaign; missteps can be costly and risk offending your customers instead of making them laugh.
In this article, we’ll explore the roots of April Fool’s Day, dive into how it differs around the world and take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of April Fool’s Day marketing campaigns.
How do April fools vary around the world?
“Poisson D’Avril”, which translates to “April fish” is what French people say for April Fools’ Day, rather than “April Fool!”. The tradition is similar to what we practice in Britain, with the prankster shouting Possion D’Avril when the joke is revealed. Where the tradition takes on it is own French charm, is that often a paper fish is taped to the back of a friend when pretending to give them a pat on the back.
In Greece, it is believed that the person who plays the prank will enjoy good fortune and they will enjoy a good year. Unfortunately, the victim is destined to have a bad year. Successful pranksters are also said to be blessed with a good yield of crops following their joke. And on top of all this good and bad luck, it is said that the water on April 1st has healing powers.
Our northern cousins, the Scots, have some unique traditions too. April Fool’s Day is known as Hunt the Gowk Day, with “Gowk” meaning a foolish person. Scots celebrate April Fools on April 1st and April 2nd. On April 1st, Scots celebrate with a series of pranks, while on day two they attach tails to each other’s backs, April the 2nd is known as “Tailie Day”.
Marketing faux pas on April Fool’s Day…
The German car manufacturer, Volkswagen last year planned to joke on April Fool’s Day that they would be changing their name in the US to “Voltswagen”. Unfortunately, the scheme had been leaked to the press a few days before. The carmaker wasn’t going to be deterred though, on March 30th, continuing with the original plan, they launched a new Twitter handle for Voltswagen and released a statement explaining that the name change was related to their commitment to leading the way in electric vehicles.
Later in the day, the company was forced to admit the name change was an intended prank to generate some awareness and viral buzz. However, for PR reasons and to reassure commercial stakeholders that their investment was safe, transparency and honesty was the antidote!
In April 2016, Google owned up to a foolish mistake: “Well it looks like we pranked ourselves.”
They were forced into the admission after releasing a feature called the “Mic Drop”, which gave Gmail users the ability to end an email chain with an animated GIF from the animated film Despicable Me.
While this feature was intended as a bit of fun, the mic drop feature was positioned next to the send button on Gmail which meant people added it to their emails entirely by mistake, which it goes without saying, caused some very awkward situations.
Successful April Fool’s campaigns
On the other hand, when an April Fool’s prank is perfectly executed it can bring positive attention and increase sales. What makes a great joke? Often subverting expectations is the best tactic, if someone believes they can see the punchline to a setup coming, it can ruin the effect. But the unexpected can really get people laughing.
On April 1st 2016, Amazon announced a new product, Amazon Dash that had everyone wondering whether it was real or a stunt. Consumers could be forgiven for thinking this was a well-timed joke, but the genius of Amazon’s campaign was that the new feature was very real indeed. Amazon Dash was a button that can be placed anywhere in a home giving users the ability to purchase household essentials such as washing detergent in one press. It tows the fine line in between being almost too ridiculous to be true, but just like the funniest stories told by your friends at parties, the truth of the matter makes it funnier still.
How to prevent your business from looking foolish…
Sometimes it’s difficult to read the room, especially when you’re operating in an overseas market where you don’t fully understand the humour or cultural cues.
That’s where a translations partner like Bubbles can help steer your content and translate the intent, not just the words on the page. Our translators are native speakers and they are based in the markets you operate in, meaning their contextual understanding of the marketplace is second-to-none. With local knowledge to call on, your brand is much less likely to put your foot in it when making an April Fool’s joke or launching a new marketing campaign, whatever the month.
Get in touch with us today to discuss our professional language translation services and avoid marketing faux pas.
