Dishing Up Food Brands April Fool’s Pranks
April Fool's Day always seems to be one that goes over my head. But I am reminded each year by food brand’s shocking fake ads. Like when Burger King marketed Whopper flavoured toothpaste in 2017, or when McDonald's offered milkshake sauce pots in 2019.
This PR strategy is known as ‘Prankvertising’. It’s used to humanise brands, showcasing a company’s creativity beyond just making a profit.
Sometimes, it can work in a brands favour. Last month, Lipton Iced Tea announced they would be discontinuing their famous peach flavour. “Rest In Peach,” the brand posted on Instagram, leaving iced tea drinkers devastated. Many went out and stocked up on the drink, getting ready for when it would be discontinued.
But not even 24 hours after later, Lipton posted to social media, “Oops, is it still March? Got my dates mixed up… thought it was April Fools already! I’d never take away your favourite flavour, pookies.” Customers were furious.
These April Fools pranks leave me disappointed too. So, I hosted a dinner where I recreated the fake promoted food. I invited eight of my dearest friends to the most disgusting dinner party of their lives.
Sonic’s pickle slushy
I started off the evening with Sonic’s Pickle slush juice, which they pranked customers with on April Fools in 2022. The joke was taken so well that it made onto the menu after high customer demand. The unique drink aims to capture the taste of pickle juice, with a mix of sweet and tangy flavours to balance the saltiness. Seeing how crazy people get about pickles, I’m not surprised this prank was such a success.
I took inspiration from Sonic and made martinis mixed with pickle juice, adding a gherkin for decor. I eyeballed the amount of pickle juice, sugar syrup and vodka, then poured it into my Nutri Bullet.
I took a sip. The sickly-sweet pickle spiked my tongue. The vodka followed and kicked me in the balls. It was perfect.
I poured out the potion into martini glasses and handed them around.
“Wait, this is really good,” one friend exclaimed.
I watched in horror as everyone agreed, happily taking swigs. I should’ve known they would love it, especially considering how much Garage Project’s Pickle Beer we collectively consume.
Pizza Hut’s pizza with Pineapple Lumps
In 2019, Pizza Hut pranked customers by advertising a classic Hawaiian pizza topped with Pineapple Lumps. “Introducing the Kiwiian pizza, with real PINEAPPLE LUMPS pieces,” Pizza Hut posted to Facebook on April 1st. The comment section suspected the ad was a joke, but were keen to try the fake dish.
This pizza was the showstopper of my dinner party. The stench of bubbling edam cheese and melted chocolate filled the room. The pineapple lumps had burned, and the marshmallows had liquified, oozing into the cheese.
I carried the creation to the table and was met with gasps. Puzzled expressions grew on faces as they chewed. One friend broke the silence, “You know what? It’s actually kind of good.”
The pizza was gone in a matter of minutes. If Kiwiana had a taste, it would be this.
Much Moore’s Marmite Ice cream
The sweet part of the evening was upon us. To give our tastebuds one more shock, I created Much Moore’s 2024 prank, Choco Mite Swirl, which was chocolate ice cream mixed with Marmite.
The prank was received so well that Much Moore’s decided to give away a SINGLE pint of Marmite flavoured ice cream. On Facebook they posted, “To celebrate April Fools, we've actually teamed up with the one and only Marmite NZ to GIVEAWAY something so unique and undeniably Kiwi.”
They continued, “That's right! You could be the ONLY ONE in New Zealand to try the (real) Premium Choco Mite Swirl!”
Taking creative liberty, I mixed Marmite with Nutella to create a chocolate sauce and poured it over vanilla ice cream. My group of friends groaned at the thought of my ice cream-marmite creation.
But surprisingly, there was something delicious about the savoury hit buried in the warm Nutella.
“That one’s not even a prank, it was just good,” a friend proclaimed.
The debrief
Our bellies full of pickle martini’s, Pineapple Lump pizza, and Marmite ice cream, we discussed the subject of prank products.
Having for the most part like all the prank food I brought to reality, we all agreed its disappointing when a brand doesn’t actually make their fake product.
We all picked a favourite dish. Two people liked the pizza the best, and others liked the Marmite ice cream. But it was the pickle martini that had taken the most hearts.
Next time I have a dinner party, I’ll be sure to make Burger King’s 2016 Whopper toothpaste into a pâté and whip up 2016 Mentos’ flavoured ice cream.