There is nothing worse than seeing a headline on April 1st and having the thought, “Oh god, today must be April Fool’s Day.” You can bet that wasn’t the intention of the “joke,” but more often than not these pranks come off as more cringe-worthy than they do funny. Navigating the internet on April 1st is even more of a headache than usual, as jokes mostly fall flat and every headline, even the true ones, come with deep scrutiny. Suddenly you find yourself side-eyeing everything and in the event that you do get fooled, it’s rarely fun or funny.
Seriously this holiday kind of blows. But sometimes — ever so rarely — the gags work and we can’t help but let out a shameful giggle or an appreciative nod. There are always a few April Fools’ Day pranks that are done well. So long as the joke is able to nail the delicate balance of being both fun and obvious, there are laughs to be had. The internet is the biggest outlet of weird Tim & Eric indebted humor, so fast food marketing teams are given the freedom to get strange across their social media accounts, resulting in some solid prank products.
Here are all the best food-related April Fools jokes that aren’t totally cringe-worthy and didn’t make us totally hate navigating the internet on April 1st. It should go without saying, but make sure you experience the joke before you read what we’ve written unless you like to experience jokes second-hand, in which case, very weird of you.
Carl’s Jr. Expands The Brand
The first thing that stands out about Carl’s Jr’s ad is how different in tone it is than what you would expect from the burger chain, who are known for their whole babes-and-burgers approach to marketing. Instead, we’re given a chill looking modern fella, against a dark black backdrop, slowly sipping from his cup. Is it an ad for a new shake? Is Carl’s Jr launching a capsule collection with converse? Is the chain making an effort to broaden their marketing audience?
Nah, it’s something way more chill.
McDonald’s McPickle
See what we mean about obvious? Nobody is going to get fooled by this, even weird pickle obsessives know that nobody in their right mind would attempt to make this. This is a literal nightmare, by the way. First of all, the thought of the smell of this burger alone is enough to make you taste it, secondly what the hell is with this video?
The slow pullback is incredibly ominous and unsettling, McDonald’s could’ve just went with a static image!
Starbucks Launches Pupbucks
Pupbucks is a new concept store by Starbucks that exclusively caters to dogs. We aren’t totally convinced that this isn’t a real thing that already exists in Hollywood, in fact, we’re pretty sure it’s right by the Chateau Marmutt.
Shake Shack Gives In To The Demands
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvt24eHD35g/
Is anyone actually crazy for Shake Sauce? Our favorite part about this one is the bag clip bottle. Clipping a mayo-based sauce to the outside of your bag and exposing it to the elements is definitely a thing people should do.
Liquor Dot Com’s H2O Highball
We love this prank in particular not because of its execution — though the video is fun to watch and makes a water cocktail actually look pretty tasty — but because it’s just given us a brilliant prank to play on our friends this weekend. Offer to make your drunk friend a cocktail, and prepare this H2O highball for them, watermelon garnish and all. See how long they rock that H2O highball before realizing that you’re just trying to keep them hydrated and hangover free the next day.
It’s actually kind of a sweet way to prank people.
McDonald’s Introduces Shake Sauce
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtlBd4hxeo/
McDonald’s doubled-up this year with another gag product, but this time they didn’t try to gross anybody out. If you don’t already dip McDonald’s fries in their shakes and McFlurries, you’re missing out on one of the greatest flavor combinations possible at a McDonald’s. But we don’t wish this was real, not with McDonald’s crazy strict sauce policy. Those cups just can’t hold enough frozen goodness to last a whole meal.
Red Lobster Goes Eco Friendly
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtcqS7gtWl/
Oh, real cool Red Lobster, make a whole joke about our need to save the environment. It’s funny because it’s so damn dark. But really though, the planet is dying, this is not a joke.
Dunkin’ Introduces The Super Dough Holder
Dunkin’ had to make extra large donuts to pull this one off, which begs the question, “when can we get one of those extra large donuts?” Seriously, we are down for Dunkin’ to start selling big donuts.
Halo Top Skincare
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtGw6QlOLb/
Ice Cream brand Halo Top enlisted the help of celebrity makeup artist Patrick Ta for a skincare ad about the world’s first ice cream based edible face mask. With exfoliating sprinkles, Halo Top’s new facemask is so delicious that it won’t make you feel the least bit weird about eating it right off of your face after it has worked its magic. All that dead skin sure must be tasty!
Burger King Flips The Script
What a genius move! Today Burger King announced they’ve teamed up with Impossible Foods for the Impossible Whopper, and it wasn’t even a joke. By delivering real news on a day its competitors spent making fake announcements, Burger King was able to legitimately fool us into thinking this was yet another bad joke. They fooled us by being honest, so kudos to the King!
