The Net Was Filled with Fake Fake News
I’ll never forget one particular April Fools’ Joke during my college years in Peoria. That Midwest city is the home of the famous Caterpillar tractor — five major plants in the metropolitan area produce monster land moving equipment of a trademark yellow color.
One April 1st, the Penny Press, the free newspaper. ran a front page article describing how market research revealed that the famous yellow color was dangerous in large construction sites, particularly in non-English-speaking parts of the world. The article said, with all dry humor, that as of certain date Caterpillar Tractor would be changing their signature color to HOT PINK. Most readers didn’t know the article was a joke.
As I recall, the article caused quite stir in the metropolitan area dependent on the tractor company for a disproportionate part of its thriving economy. Folks were talking about losing their jobs.
The Penny Press, a weekly paper, had to wait to before they could let folks know it was a ruse. Was the article good publicity for the Penny Press?
Here are five April Fools’ Jokes from this year.
- Penguins – BBC
- The Finger
- ProBlogger Launches PayPerTweet
- IRS Considers Tax Exempt Status for Bloggers
- Google Buys One Man’s Blog For Undisclosed Sum
What makes a great prank and what makes one great? How credible do they have to be? How easy to figure out? When do they make good press? Is timing important? When do they work for or against the prankster? Which April Fool’s joke will you remember most from this year?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Know that the message you send is the right one. Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!
Been a reader for a while, but never knew you were from Peoria! I am in Chilli and that April Fools by Cat must have been soooooo funny!! Hot Pink lmao.
Thanks for sharing
Hey Liz –
Thanks for the link! Of all of my April Fool’s Day posts, the tax one was the last one that I wrote and I wrote it early Tuesday morning.
Joke posts for my entertainment and book blogs were no brainers. Britney Spears writes a children’s book series? Paris Hilton to guest on Gossip Girl? All good fun. But people aren’t always laughing when it comes to business, money and taxes. So it did give me pause – exactly for the reasons that you are alluding to.
In the end, I decided to post it anyway. Ironically, it has been my lowest viewed post of the tax season so far. I’ve gotten good press – been mentioned by a few blogs as one of the “best” April Fool’s jokes of the year – but it didn’t translate into views. Perhaps there’s a lesson there (I’m still pondering).
Hi Kristy!
I’m not from Peoria, but I did go to school there. It was a most amazing event that April Fools’ Joke. 🙂
Hi Kelly!
Yeah, I’m thinking about the lesson that playing around has in businesss. Do we take ourselves too seriously or not seriously enough? That’s the idea I’m pondering. 🙂
It’s a great question.
It’s something that I query at my law firm and on my blog – as well as here on the Biz Channel.
When I started as CE, I was fighting this impression that the channel was *too serious*. I was recently asked whether we felt that we could compete with other newsy sites like CNN and Forbes that are clearly serious. I think it’s fair to say that you can be competitive in business with a different viewpoint. But how far is too far?
I actually never came across any. I found that odd. xD