Here's a new seltzer to accompany those 'Bridgerton' binge sessions: the Bud Light Seltzer Really Really Retro Pack with flavors including Afternoon Tea, Queen Cake, Duke Delight and Courtship Cocktail.

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Get better at air guitar or paid to herd cats

April 1, 2022

Air guitar lessons? Brewery body care products? And a job listing for a cat herder?

It’s all part of April Fools’ Day, when companies and big name brands attempt to outduel each other for the funniest fake product announcements.

Hellmann’s Mayonnaise with Butterfinger kicked off the pun parade on Thursday, and the silliness has been spreading ever since.

Companies pretty much took a pass on April Fools’ Day in 2020 with the COVID-19 shutdown sinking in. But last year, as the nation began opening up a bit, the stunts returned in full force with funny gags such as Velveeta cheesy skin products and Bud Light pizza-flavored seltzers.

April Fools’ Day:How it started and some of the brand pranks that went wrong

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April Fools’ Day deals you don’t want on your skin

For this year’s April Fools’ tomfoolery, personal care is again a top target.

Meat lovers would always be able to exude the aura of a pitmaster with Omaha Steaks’ trio of “perspiring” Meat Sweats that come in the aromas of steak, mesquite and lighter fluid.

Omaha Steaks is rewarding customers who check out their website with 50% off orders Friday. “It might be April Fools’ Day, but delivering value and flavor is no laughing matter,” the company said in a statement.

Yuengling pranked how it could take the shower beer to the next level with “hoppily brewed” Lagér by Yuengling shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Each “utilizes Yuengling’s very own Fountain of Youth as its main ingredient, Natural Spring water from the historic Yuengling Spring in Pottsville, PA,” the company said in a press release.

“We saw that Yuengling Lager fans love the beer so much, they take it into the shower, so it was a great opportunity for us to create an innovative way for Yuengling lovers to experience our iconic beer,” offered Bob Seaman, the brewery’s director of innovation & product development.

Unfortunately – or fortunately – when you check online, the product is already sold out (surprise!).

OK, here’s a collaboration you probably wouldn’t expect. Popsicle and Vaseline have teamed up to create Lipsicles, which come in orange, cherry and grape flavors, and would be “the coolest new way to keep your lips fresh,” the Instagram post reads.

Everyone loves the smell of donuts, right? With Krispy Kreme’s make-believe scent, L’Original Eau de Glaze Parfum, “a timeless, modern and iconic fragrance” of fresh vanilla crème would make you smell as if you were straight out of the oven.

Here’s an aroma option users might actually want: An Amazon Alexa smart speaker that could emit certain smells. An April Fools’ Day TikTok showed an Echo Dot speaker describing a scenario and then emitting the smell of bacon cooking.

“Gone are the days of purchasing clunky oil diffusers and scented candles,” a press release said.

You can actually ask your speaker or app, “Alexa, make a smell,” and it will describe a scenario and “emit” a smell.

‘Period stigma’ not an April Fools’ joke

Kotex used the April Fools’ Day opportunity to bring awareness to the misconception of “period stigma.” It posted a prank product, New U Kotex Chocolate Pads, which resembles the design of U by Kotex Ultra Thin Pads, made of dark chocolate with raspberry ganache filling.

While the product is a prank, the company said in a press release it aimed “to shed light on the ridiculous perceptions people have around periods” like making people ‘chocolate-crazy, less capable or overly emotional’.”

The company said its research found that two-thirds of people who have periods (66%) reported experiencing “some form of blatant period stigma, including jokes or comments at their expense. … The reality is, period stigma is no joke.”

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Bud Light lands another silly April Fools’ Day seltzer

Seltzers are big and so is the Netflix series “Bridgerton.” So Bud Light teased a timely new pack of beverages to watch while binging: The Bud Light Seltzer Really Really Retro Pack with flavors including Afternoon Tea, Queen Cake, Duke Delight and Courtship Cocktail, which are “the perfect accompaniment to your next ball.”

Take your grilling to a higher place

This April Fools’ Day prank would fit just as well on April 20. Grill maker Traeger promoted a new kind of cooking pellets, limited-edition Weed Pellets, made with “premium, organic Colorado cannabis,” the company’s Twitter post said.

Prior to cooking, you can put some weed pellets into the grill, fire it up and “chill nearby as you soak in all the aromas and flavors,” Traeger recommends in a press release. But, you are warned, “cooking with Weed Pellets may cause side effects including: severe munchies, uncontrollable giggling, spacing out and increased interest in cartoons and/or Bigfoot documentaries.”

April Fools’ around the world

Big brands don’t just observe April Fools’ Day in the US

Domino’s Pizza Singapore posted a Facebook ad promising gamers a new, convenient way to order pizza. Hungry gamers can simply press the key in the bottom right-hand corner of the Domino’s gaming keyboard to quickly order their favorites, the company said.

“Simply add your favorites to this shortcut button and have them at your fingertips all the time,” the post read. “Spend less time ordering and more time on the games you love.”

And McDonald’s Australia offered a semi-sweet special treat, the all new Sweet ‘N Sour Sundae. The company’s Instagram post not only showed an ice cream treat with sweet and sour sauce topping, but also the idea of dipping french fries in the dessert.

“It’s the treat your taste buds never knew they needed, until now,” the post read. “Available until yesterday.”

Eh?

Fake fun with relationships

Supermarket chain Aldi promoted on Instagram an in-development Aldi Findr relationship app, which lets you swipe right on certain products including peanut butter cups and cauliflower crust pizza to find your match. “Just download the app, add your ALDI faves and you’ll be matched with your shopping sweetheart!” the post said.

Some Aldi fans wished it weren’t an April Fools’ Day joke. “Please do this. For real. This is an amazing idea!!” suggested user katherinegibb75.

Diamond seller Rare Carat had its own jewel of an April Fools’ Day promotion: NoPressure relationship Insurance. At the time shoppers buy an engagement ring, they would also be able to get a policy, which “can be activated at the time of a break-up (and) guarantees a payout to all policyholders for time and energy put into the relationship, “the company’s website says.

In a press release, Rare Carat says it uses proprietary technology to “assess the likelihood of break up and sets a premium,” which is then “tracked on the blockchain for superfluous reasons and upon a separation, a payout will be triggered.”

Prankish opportunities with cats, NFTs

You’ve heard the saying “like herding cats?” Careerbuilder.com posted a humorous hiring: Cat herder.

Among the qualifications: familiarity with feline best practices (locating expensive items on high shelves, staring at a door, deciding whether to go in or out and a tendency of being aloof)” and being “adept with using a laser pointer.”

If you visit the Guitar Center website, there’s a new laughable learning opportunity: finetuning your air guitar skills. While it’s a joke that the company is expanding its lessons program for those who don’t have musical instruments, the Guitar Center does hope to get you interested in music.

“Air Guitar is a Breeze: Learning an air instrument is just April Fools’ fun,” the site says, “but getting you playing is no joke-get started on a non-air instrument today.”

And Australian based Lessons.com posted a free “lesson” on how to explain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to older relatives. “We’ll begin by providing you with a few basic metaphors to describe digital ledgers and the applications that they allow,” the site promises. “From blockchain to NFTs, we’ll help you to explain nascent technologies as articulately as a neanderthal explaining how to use stone tools to his toothless cousin.”

The main takeaway from the lesson: “Remember these four key words, ‘It’s probably a scam’.”

A new car shopping stunt

When shopping for a used car, it’s always good to know the vehicle was previously owned by a grandparent, right? Online car marketplace True Cars’ prank would put that into action with a Certified Grandparent Owned (GPO) search tool.

In a tight used car market, many buyers “are willing to sacrifice style and performance in favor of other attributes: ultra-low mileage, pristine like-new condition, and Barcalounger-like comfort,” the company said on its website. So True Cars proposed a “specialized 4-point NANA inspection process” to identify cars with: