NZ gets in on April Fools' Day gags

It wouldn't be April 1 without the early morning adverts flogging strange products and deals.

This year is no exception, with everything from an airline announcing the first "Kids' Class" cabin in the world, featuring "kickable seats, concierge Trunki service to the gate and an onboard teddy bear menu", to freeze-dried Big Macs for trampers, a radio station for cows and noise-cancelling hammers.

Christchurch Airport also got in on the April Fools' Day act and said it was considering a runway with ramps.

"This would aid take-offs because of a steeper ascent and would reduce the amount of fuel airlines need to burn to reach cruising altitude," the airport joked.

"The ramps will also assist landings with the incline at the end of the runway reducing aircraft braking."

Mitre 10 advertised the "noise cancelling hammer" on its Facebook page, saying: "The biggest innovation in DIY. Now available in New Zealand."

Meanwhile, a radio station for cows was introduced in the Northern Advocate this morning.

The story had the headline "FM station targeting cows as main audience".

The first line read: "A Northland FM station believes it could be the first in the country to target cows as its major audience."

It went on to talk about "FM Moosic" going to air within weeks if they could secure a key sponsorship deal with dairy giant Fonterra.

"FM Moosic director Lirpa Sloof has operated a similar station in his homeland of Iceland, and said his research had confirmed that playing music to cows improved their milk production."

Of course, sometimes these pranks are actually double-bluffs.

Last year an Auckland woman cashed in on a seemingly ridiculous luxury car trade-in promotion and walked away a BMW 1 Series.

Tianna Marsh was the first person to try an unusual trade-in offer from the BMW Newmarket dealership after a front page advertisement in the New Zealand Herald on April 1.

The "April Fools' Day special" promised a new BMW to the first person who took their car and the front-page coupon to the dealership.

Ms Marsh was first there, arriving in her 15-year-old Nissan Avenir at 5.30am.

She was swiftly rewarded with the new car worth almost $50,000 in exchange for her old station wagon.

But this is not the case for the April Fools' Day ad on the front page of today's Herald.

Gold Coast Tourism took out an advert saying there were "new rules aimed at stopping Kiwi travellers from raining all over New Zealand's number one holiday destination".

The ad talked about the Gold Coast Weather Protection Unit (GCWPU), which aims to stop Kiwi travellers bringing bad weather with them on holiday.

"The unit will conduct searches on all suspicious travellers passing through the Gold Coast Airport looking for signs of now prohibited items."

According to the ad, these included pessimistic clothing or footwear such as sweatshirts, jackets, hoodies, beanies, scarves or boots; items carrying traces of precipitation; items exposed to rain, fog, snow, hail or storms in the past 10 days; umbrellas, rain jackets, ponchos or gumboots; thermal or woollen clothing including merino and polypropylene; hot water bottles or wheat bags.

 

Add a Comment