Whether it was faking a community project twenty years in the making or coming up with weirdly enticing foods, New Zealand smashed it this April Fools Day.
Some jokes landed, some didn't and I'm sure plenty of social media managers got calls from angry CEOs. We went through the best, worst and weirdest of the pranks from yesterday and ranked them. I'm happy to say I only fell for half of these.
New Zealand's Best April Fools Day Pranks
10. BurgerFuel's Deleted and Meatless Burger
Our list begins with a prank shrouded in mystery. Burger Fuel shared with customers their new ‘Dodgy Dog’ burger, which would contain no meat, just sauces and pickles.
They’ve deleted the Instagram post now, which begs the question: Was the Dodgy Dog too dodgy for the Burgerfuel big dogs?
9. Stardome's Flat Moon Satellite
Auckland’s Stardome Observatory sent a satellite up to space to “prove the Earth was flat”.
However, the first images FlatSat sent back shockingly showed our planet is round, but our moon is flat. A risky one delving into conspiracies but well executed.
8. Watercare Piping Up
Because of global warming and the one flatmate who won’t refill the icetray, humanity may face a water shortage.
Watercare got ahead of the game and shared their plans to build pipes up the SkyTower so they could harvest water from the clouds. It's about time the SkyTower was used for something other than bungees and an expensive moving restaurant.
7. Briscoes's Duvet Cover
For 35 years, Tammy Wells has told us that, yet again, Briscoes has a sale going down. Why not return the love by having her in bed with you?
That’s right, Briscoes was offering duvet covers with the Briscoes’ lady’s famous face plastered on them. Of course, it was a prank but I think a few boomers in the comments fell for it and loved the idea. I hope they’re not too disappointed.
6. Maccas Picklepie
McDonald’s posted that the Pickle Pie - an apple pie but with pickles - will be available for a limited time. And Gen Zers reacted to it just like Boomers reacted to the Briscoes’ duvets.
There were so many comments saying they’d actually eat them that I wouldn’t be surprised if a TikTok recipe for them goes viral this week.
5. K9 Lifeguards
To get on top of “growing wages”, Parakai Springs outside of Auckland shared their plans to hire a dog as a lifeguard.
Marnie would’ve been the pool’s first “K9 Lifeguard’ and, going off how many comments were disappointed when they realised it was an April Fool’s joke, he probably would’ve been the busiest ever as everyone would fake being drowned just to be rescued.
4. Marmite Ice Cream
Aotearoa food companies had an April Fools Day on par with Fred Again’s 2024 - just killing it. Take Marmite and Much Moore, who teamed up to introduce a Choco Mite Swirl ice cream tub.
They actually made one tub and are giving it away so points to them for that.
3. Motueka Pool Finally Opened
Residents of Motueka, a small town at the top of the South Island, have been fundraising to build a community pool for decades.
On April 1, the town’s recreation centre posted that the wait was over and an Olympic-sized pool “20 years in the making” had finally opened. It was just a photo of a flooded ditch with swimming lanes photoshopped on. Love it.
2. Rhythm and Huntly
Aotearoa’s biggest music festival teased that it would be packing up the Gisborne venue and moving to the country’s most infamous small town: Huntly.
Raving in the town’s iconic power station would legit be an unreal experience.
Sidenote: Huntly also was the butt of EcoCycle’s prank, with them saying the town is home to the next great cycle track which is expected "to attract dozens of cyclists next year."
1. Subway Fairy Bread
The winning prank this year probably inspired more sighs of wanting than laughs. Subway shared a footlong fairy bread concept and Boomers and GenZers alike would probably give up the Briscoes duvet and McPickle Pies just for a bite.
Their comments were filled with people pleading with them to do it. Too bad though, it’s not real and you’ll have to just make your own.
I'm proud of how we pranked it up this year team. Next year, I hope more small towns get involved and maybe Huntly takes a swing back after being lowkey bullied this year.
