Don't be fooled! April Fool's Day is coming!

Just two days away now, April Fool's is just around the corner. Get yourself prepared and don't let someone get the best of you!

I'm not sure how I feel about a holiday devoted to the humiliation of others, but there is it, ever year, on my calendar on the first of April. No one really knows the origin of this particular holiday, but people everywhere enjoy pulling pranks on those around them. From silly little jokes to larger, more elaborate pranks, the holiday abounds with craziness, and you have to be careful who you trust today!

Let's look at some of history's bigger pranks, shall we?

In 1998, Burger King pulled their own prank by running an ad in USA Today advertising a brand new Whopper just for left-handed people where the condiments were specially designed so they would drip only out of the right hand side of the burger. Sad thing is that people actually ordered this specific "new" burger. Even worse, some people actually specified that they wanted to "old, original" burger...

In 1996, Taco Bell placed their own ad in several newspapers claiming that they had purchased the Liberty Bell in order to help reduce the US's debt and were renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. They had to reveal the prank by noon that day due to thousands of protests from people who took them seriously. (By the way, this stunt is ranked among the "Top 10 Successful Marketing Stunts" by Entrepreneur Magazine and the "Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time" by the Museum of Hoaxes!) In the photo, from the Museum of Hoaxes, we see the Taco Bell CEO posing with the Liberty Bell and the actor who portrays Ben Franklin.

Ever hear of smell-o-vision? Sounds like something from the Willie Wonka movie... In 1965, the BBC announced that they were trying out the new technology where they would be able to transmit smells as well as pictures across the airwaves to peoples television sets. Apparently they had "many viewers" contact them back to report the success of their trials. Talk about the power of suggestion!

In 1950, a Dutch news report claimed that the Tower of Pisa had fallen over. (About time - it's been leaning for how long now?) People contacted the station about this one also.

In 2003, a Tennessee radio station announced that Eminem was giving a free concert in a discount store parking lot which led to a pretty serious gridlock. People actually threatened bodily harm to the DJ's who were later put in jail for creating an public nuisance. Another station in Boston also announced that Pearl Jam was giving a free concert in a fake city in New Hampshire. With this hoax, apparently people were stopping at gas stations to ask directions to the city that didn't exist...

These are just a few of the April Fool's jokes that made headlines. There are so many others out there that never get recorded - just make sure you're not the unwilling butt of them!

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Don't be fooled! April Fool's Day is coming!

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