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Every year, 1 April brings out the mischevious side of fmcg marketeers.
From accessories that pair perfectly with their brands to spoof announcements and the inevitable slew of out-there NPD, there’s no shortage of ingenuity to admire.
“In a world where brands are increasingly sanitised and risk-averse, 1 April is an opportunity to be irreverent, engaging, and culturally switched-on,” says Jon Tipple, chief strategy officer at FutureBrand.
“But too often, these efforts feel like brands flexing a muscle they haven’t trained,” he says, citing Terry’s toothpaste (last year we saw at least three other brands feign the launches of toothpastes) and Branston’s lip gloss among this year’s unfunnies.
“This isn’t just a one-day issue. The average brand Personality score in the FutureBrand Index has dropped from 36% in 2022 to 33% in 2024, showing how hard it is for brands to maintain a distinctive, engaging voice. It’s a symptom of a broader problem: too many brands are stuck in a generic tone of voice for fear of saying the wrong thing.
“The recipe for a great April Fools is twofold: first, you need a well-established, recognisable brand to subvert consumers’ expectations. Second, you need to be genuinely funny. Done well, engaging with April Fools can signal agility, confidence, and a clear understanding of your brand’s voice.
“Ultimately, brands should have an April Fools’ mindset 364 days a year. Creativity, boldness, and the willingness to surprise your audience shouldn’t be reserved for just one morning in April. And with a little more practice, maybe next year’s jokes will actually make us laugh.”
This is the best and worst of food and drink’s April Fools’ Day pranks:
Asda
Hammering home its Rollback campaign, complete with a plethora of influencers strutting their stuff to the pocket tap dance, Asda decided to take things a step further and implement a strict dress code for shoppers. No pocket, no entry for pocket taps on tap.
Nerds
Sweet and savoury chicken is coming for us. Nerds unveiled Nerds-Glazed Chicken Tenders, the Nerds Gummy Chicken Sandwich and Nerds Dipping Sauce – A sweet-and-sour flavour bomb. An ideal way to introduce some colour into the diets of picky eaters.
Gran Luchito
A much-wanted and needed launch for anyone planning to cook tacos for a potential partner on a first date. Mexican food brand Gran Luchito unveiled an adult-sized bib for its April fool prank, complete with scoop to catch any fallen food. Waste not, want not.
Protein Works
Another 1 April, another protein spoof. First out of the gate today is Protein Works’ Doms Proteinon. Not only has the brand done away with the booze content of this fake launch, but it has added 20g of protein.
Are any gym bunnies able to confirm whether Doms Proteinon might actually allieviate DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)?
Babybel
Cheese famously bestows technicolour dreams on anyone brave enough to eat it late at night. Babybel spied a gap in the market for a sleeping bag, allowing dreamers to bed down in a location as out-there as their inevitable dreams.
Gym Kitchen
Not content with protein-enriched milk to pour into any old cuppa, Gym Kitchen pitched a protein teabag to boot. And with 50g of protein, you’ll have essentially your full daily recommended intake from a single brew if you let it stew long enough.
Take a trip down memory lane:
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The best foodie pranks brands pulled on April Fools’ 2024
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Rated: the food and drink April Fools’ Day pranks for 2023
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All the April Fools’ food & drink launches for 2022
Terry’s
Terry’s is close to shrugging off all association with oranges as it hammers home its mint chocolate offer. In a not-so-subtle reminder that the brand is all about mint these days, it pitched a choc-mint toothpaste for April Fools’ Day.
Napolina
Last year, Napolina’s pasta was pre-snapped. This year, it’s channelling Lady & The Tramp with strands of spagehetti so long they’re ideal for sharing over a lover’s table. Slurp on.
Fearne & Rosie
It’s another wamp wamp fake launch from Fearne & Rosie. Last year was a carrot variant. This year, the brand is able to run back to the safety of the green filter used in 2023 (broccoli jam) to announce the launch of olive jam.
Suggestions for the next decade include yam jam, sweetcorn jam, aubergine jam, kale jam, pepper jam, cauliflower jam, leek jam, potato jam, tomato jam and mangetout jam. Anyone know if chilli jam has been done yet? How about onion?
Tim Hortons
People like burgers. People like doughnuts. Sweet and salty is a proven combination in popcorn as well as Chinese takeaway menus. Pubs were dishing up doughnut burgers about five years ago.
What’s holding Tim Horton’s back from launching this? It’s what the people want. Give it to us, we dare you.
Nuud
Nuud has given itself a tongue-in-cheek rebrand for April Fool’s Day. Becoming Pnewd, standing for pneumatically engiennered wheel debris, it claimed it would become an approved recycler of tyres and repurpose them in delightful chewing gum form.
Walkers
It happens to all of us. We reach a certain age and feel obliged to blend in. We hang up our risque numbers for the final time. That’s what it felt like when a creative agency employee posted to LinkedIn that Walkers would finally be backing down and conforming to crisp tradition.
It famously laughs in the face of other crisp makers who’ve collectively decided that green = cheese & onion and blue = salt & vinegar and done the opposite. Until now, when it announced it would be swapping them round. Maybe.
Albert Bartlett
Regularly, home cooks open a cupboard and are deluged by a potato landslide as the tubers simply refuse to be held in place by anything but hard borders. That’s the problem Albert Bartlett has set out to fix with its cuboid, stackable tatties.
And it seems it’s not just home cooks beset by such issues. The brand has even got the support of Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr for the idea.
Aldi
The low & no trend has peaked with this latest launch from Aldi. 100% Scottish tap water, canned, with funky packaging. It would sell. It could even slap a health claim on there.
Heck
The world’s first ‘superfood sausage’ is what Heck has dubbed its very green matcha concotion. Tapping the trend for wellness, antioxidents and functional foods, it’s hit the trifecta with this one.
Matcha was a particularly trendy inspiration for this year’s fake launches, which also saw Mash Direct and Piccolo unveil matcha flavoured variants.
Waitrose
Waitrose has decided to make Easter for the adults this April Fools’ Day. How has it managed that? With point of sale signage usually seen in the booze aisle. No egg sales to under 18s, it declares, adding that proof of age may be required at checkout.
Tiba Tempeh
The first sweet tempeh, ideal for ice creams, desserts or eating from the pack, is how Tiba Tempeh billed its faux chocolate-flavoured launch.
Permissible desserts, plant-based chocolate alternatives and the inevitable protein claim are all on trend, so what could go wrong? Let’s hope the brand has gone east on the fermentation of this one.
Dole
Forget paying £12.50 for a Piña Colada at the bar. Dole has created a bred the cocopine – a cross between a coconut and a pineapple, bringing the taste of Piña Coladas to fruit bowls everywhere.
Birds Eye
Birds Eye is reaching for greatness with its idea for Potato Waffholes, those being the punched out holes from its Potato Waffles bagged up and frozen for the masses to enjoy. So, yes, ultimately still a potato waffle. Or hash brown.
Merchant Gourmet
Contrary to popular belief, the essence of lentils is not the smell of gassy tummies when they’re undercooked. Merchant Gourmet has pitched a fragrance inspired by the home of puy lentils, Le Puy en Velay valleys. It says L’essence De Puy features warm, earthy and rich notes of patchouli and cedarwood. Decidedly not riboflavin, then.
Smol
There’s quite like creating your own biggest competitor. Smol has taken the challenge literally, with the invention of Massiv, with accompanying massive laundry pods. Ideal for heavy soiling?
This
This’s April fool was relatively tame for a brand that considers itself a marketing maverick. Its branch out into dogfood saw it fake the launch of ‘raw beef chunks’ that were not only 100% plant-based, but looked suspiciously like watermelon chunks.
Happiee
Vegan seafood brand Happiee has stuck to its fishy theme, with the promise of lip gloss that will provide the ultimate trout pout, complete with fish scent. If that hasn’t got you sold, consider the sustainabiltiy credentials of a lip gloss whose packaging is fully recycled ocean plastic.
Heinz
Always on brand, on trend and with an eye on its own campaigns, Heinz has stormed April Fools’ Day with the launch of a pistachio-flavoured Beanz tin that taps the Dubai chocolate trend. It’s a not-so-subtle throwback to its Beanz of Your Dreamz campaign, which saw customers create their ideal flavour combinations for the next new Beanz can launch online.
It was surprising not to see more Dubai chocolate-inspired launches. One other of note was a crisp variant by Boundless.
Shaken Udder
Taking the meaning of food-to-go to new levels is the Shaken Udder keyring milkshake. At just 15ml, the shot of chocolatey goodness slips on to a set of keys to remain easily accessible.
Pasta Evangelists
Would it be April Fools’ Day without someone attemping to spark outrage with a pineapple and ham combo? This year was the turn of Pasta Evangelists, which says you can add the pairing as a topping.
PG Tips
No longer do you have to choose whether you have time to make a cuppa in the morning or make a bowl of cereal. PG Tips has combined to two, with a Brewk-fast cereal that is shaped like tiny mugs of tea. Hope you like it milky.
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