April fools' marketing: Are brands making us laugh or just looking foolish?

April Fools’ Day, celebrated every April 1st, is a time for pranks, jokes, and playful deception. While individuals pull lighthearted pranks, brands take it a step further by launching outlandish campaigns in the name of humour.

It’s that time when brands convince themselves that misleading their audience is clever marketing. On this day, brands collectively throw logic out the window and launch the most absurd, sometimes genius, but mostly cringeworthy ads.

But here’s the question: Are consumers actually in on it, or is this just an annual tradition where brands amuse themselves while the rest of us roll our eyes and move on? To understand why brands continue to play this game, I spoke to marketing experts who have seen the good, the bad, and the painfully unfunny April Fools’ campaigns that should have never seen the light of day. 

So, what’s the appeal of fooling around?

April Fools’ Day presents brands with a chance to break away from their usual, often transactional roles and inject some humour into their messaging. According to Rupesh Kashyap, Founder and CCO, Fireandwaterr, this moment offers a rare opportunity for brands to make their audience laugh. "Brands don’t get to make their audience laugh every day, so April Fools’ becomes an opportunity to step out of their usual transactional roles and have some fun," he explained. humour, he noted, creates an instant connection by triggering dopamine release, the neurotransmitter tied to pleasure, motivation, and social bonding. "When the joke feels relatable, it pulls people in even more," he added, emphasising how laughter strengthens positive associations with a brand. 

He mentioned that brands like Burger King have effectively used pranks, such as the 'Chocolate Whopper,' to engage people.

One recent example is HYPHEN’s 2024 April Fool’s Day prank, where the brand announced a playful yet intriguing collaboration with Mango Bite to launch a mango-flavored lip balm. What started as a joke quickly gained traction, sparking excitement among consumers who eagerly expressed their desire for the product. Fueled by overwhelming demand, the brand turned this joke into reality, officially launching the Mango Lip Balm in 2025, transforming a clever prank into a successful product innovation.

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Another clever execution came from Manforce Condoms. Last year, the brand launched ‘Manforce Realgasm Condoms,’ claiming these special condoms could detect orgasms by changing color. 

While the campaign was a playful take on pleasure, it also sparked conversations about the orgasm gap and the importance of open dialogue around sexual satisfaction. By using humour, the brand stayed true to its identity while encouraging discussions on a topic that often goes unspoken.

This kind of campaign works because it aligns with the brand’s tone, engages audiences, and delivers a message that extends beyond the prank itself.

For Aditya Jaishankar, Brand Consultant, April Fools’ Day is a chance for brands to build stronger, more personable relationships with their audiences. He likened it to a group of friends playing pranks on one another: "April Fools’ day allows the brand to be a little more playful and loosen up with its consumers." 

For startups, especially, Jaishankar believes this day offers a rare moment for founders to interact with their audience in a non-transactional manner. He cited Amazon Prime Video India’s April Fools’ campaign involving ‘Jaggu Dada Mode’ in the app as an example. 

In this campaign, Jackie Shroff, aka Jaggu Dada, would dub famous movies and series in his iconic Bhidu style and the campaign was announced to be ‘Live from 1st April, only on Prime Video.’ 

Jaishankar explained that the reveal that it was a prank left the audience amused and got them to create memes which made this a successful campaign.

What happens when the joke goes too far?

Every year, brands go on a spree of fake product launches and over-the-top gags, hoping to go viral. Some succeed, others, however, crash and burn faster than a Bollywood sequel no one asked for. Yet, year after year, the cycle continues, as brands push the boundaries of humour. And sometimes, they cross the line.

Fake product launches may generate short-term buzz, but they can also leave consumers feeling deceived, undermining trust. Kashyap shared the example of ‘Ola’s Solo autonomous scooter’, which sparked confusion before the brand had to step in with clarifications. “A brand must always stay true to its Unique Selling Response. If a prank disrupts this response, it can backfire,” he stated.

Nisha Sampath, Founder and Managing Partner, Bright Angles Consulting, shared, “In the digital age, April Fool’s Day Campaigns are more challenging to execute. People are being scammed or fooled every single day of the year.” 

With phishing scams, OTP fraud, and AI-generated deepfakes on the rise, consumers are more skeptical than ever. The situation has become so severe that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had to start playing cybercrime awareness messages as caller tunes, warning citizens about fraud calls and teaching them how to report such scams.

In such an environment, where digital fraud is rampant, misleading pranks can do more harm than good and backfire. As Kashyap pointed out, “The ‘Jamtara syndrome’ is real,” highlighting the risks of digital deception.

“Furthermore, even brands are putting out misleading or fake news very often.  Audiences are saturated with pranks and tricks,” added Sampath.

What's more, brands aren’t waiting for April 1st anymore. They're churning out misleading pranks year-round, crossing ethical boundaries with fake deaths and deepfakes. While these tactics may grab attention, they come at the cost of credibility, especially in sensitive sectors like finance or health. 

A category deals in trust, safety or some serious stuff such as health care should be careful about its approach towards april fools' campaigns. A fake alert from a bank or a pharma brand claiming a ‘miracle cure’ isn’t a joke - it’s a potential crisis.

-Rupesh Kashyap

Poonam Pandey's staged death to raise awareness about cervical cancer is one such example of pushing the envelope so far, that it tears. 

Sampath added, “If you are in a more sensitive category like finance or banking it is definitely advisable to avoid fake launches. Or, one can let the audience into the prank, so that they are laughing at a third party.”

When a fake campaign blurs the line between humour and hoax, consumers may not just be mildly annoyed but could be genuinely misled. In such an environment, brands need to ask themselves: Is the prank adding to the fun, or just adding to the confusion?

The key is to be in on the joke with the audience, not at their expense.

-Rupesh Kashyap

Just a drop in the ocean of brand building

The question remains: Is all this humour worth it in terms of ROI? Kashyap shared that a well-executed April Fools' campaign can spark real conversations, increasing brand engagement over time. 

Jaishankar supported this view, stating that while immediate ROI might be elusive, long-term consumer relationships can pay off. 

However, can a single day of jokes contribute meaningfully to brand building, especially when the returns aren’t substantial?

Vani Gupta Dandia, Founder, CherryPeachPlum Growth Partners, expressed her view that April Fools' campaigns often serve as a creative outlet for brands and their agencies, rather than a strategic brand-building effort. She said, “I see these campaigns more as an indulgence for the brand team and the creative agency only. These one-offs don't build the brand, don't get business, and may even distract from the thematic messaging.”

Additionally, does it make sense for every brand to suddenly adopt humor for just one day? If a brand doesn’t usually use this tonality, how does being funny for 24 hours change anything? 

April Fools’ campaigns are better suited for brands that engage audiences with humour year round.

-Nisha Sampath

While opinions remain divided, one thing is clear that at its best, a well-executed April Fools' campaign can spark conversations, boost engagement, and make a brand feel more human. At its worst, it can erode trust, offend audiences, or even spark a PR disaster. The real ROI question isn’t just about numbers but also about credibility. If the humour strengthens the brand’s personality, great. But if it’s just a fleeting gag with no real takeaway, then maybe the joke’s on the brand itself.