30 Of The Best April Fools’ Pranks And Jokes By Celebs And Brands This Year

It is believed that the tradition of arranging April Fools' Day goes back to the ancient custom of seeing off winter, namely to the god Gelos (not Helios!), one of the companions of the most cheerful deity of antiquity - Dionysus. Yes, and alcohol was also an integral part of the celebration in those ancient and glorious times. That very 'Fools' Holiday' we celebrate today was first mentioned in 1686 in personal correspondence by John Aubrey, the famous English writer and a great hoaxer as well.

"The April 2, 1698 edition of Dawks's News-Letter (a British newspaper) reported that 'Yesterday being the first of April, several persons were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed,'" states the British Museum of Hoaxes. "Sending gullible victims to the Tower of London to see the 'washing of the lions' (a non-existent ceremony) was a popular prank. It became traditional for this prank to be played on April Fools' Day." By the way, we double- and triple-checked this fact - and it seems to be true, although a fake should be clearly expected from a museum with that name.

By the way, despite the fact that on the first of April it is customary to publish various fake news of varying degrees of stupidity and absurdity, sometimes absolutely serious stories that happened on this day have been reasonably questioned by people - simply because of the date of publication. Like when the longest-running soap opera in history, The Guiding Light, was canceled in 2009, or when Isaiah Thomas with his 5 ft 9 in height announced his participation in the 2011 NBA Draft (well, only years later, we found out he was a true 'King in the Fourth'). Moreover, even Gmail by Google was announced on this very day nineteen years ago (OMG, how old we all are)!

Anyway, many celebrities and well-known brands do not miss the opportunity to play a trick on themselves and their fans on the first of April. For some of them, this does not work out in the best way - like, for example, Heidi Klum, who pretends to be pregnant nearly each year. And some, like Chris Pratt, who announced himself as the new voice of Mickey Mouse, are way more inventive (almost 650K likes on the actor's Instagram is probably an excellent confirmation for this)...

As for us, we are not going to play tricks on you on Bored Panda - after all, it's already the third of April, but we simply invite you to enjoy this selection of ours with the most cringy or brilliant hoaxes from famous people and no less known brands. So please feel free now to scroll it to the very end and just have some fun!