Take a break at some point today to enjoy some pranks from April Fools’ past – like this gem from Burger King in 1998:
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today
announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a “Left-Handed
Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans.
According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same
ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty,
etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit
of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a
follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a
hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the
new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, “many
others requested their own ‘right handed’ version.”
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Todayannouncing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a “Left-Handed
Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans.
According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same
ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty,
etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit
of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a
follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a
hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the
new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, “many
others requested their own ‘right handed’ version.”
- from The Museum of Hoaxes’ Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time
There’s also an extensive (and apparently reliable) article on Wikipedia about the origins of April Fools Day and a very long list of notable pranks.
Got a favorite prank? Let us know by commenting! 
#8: The Left-Handed Whopper
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April 1st, 2008 at 10:44 AM
I love that Gmail (Google Mail) always changes their login page to a joke on April 1st. Last year it was “Google Paper,” which proposed that they would begin printing out ALL of your emails and shipping them to you once a week–complete with “testimonials” on how it had changed people’s lives. This year they have “Pre-dated” emails which allow you to “remember” birthdays, anniversarys, important reports and deadlines by sending a backdated email.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:50 PM
I got fooled by only hearing part of a news story on Marketplace on Public Radio yesterday, called “IRS making sure your rebate gets spent”. It said that the IRS was determining which taxpayers would be likely to pay down debt with their tax stimulus checks, using social security numbers.
The transcript and audio file are here:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/01/april_1st/