People Are Still Not Clear on How to Do an April Fool's Joke

I've talked about humor here before, and unfortunately I'm revisiting the concept because people still don't get it. Not that they read my blog anyway, but they still don't get it. I'll say it again: A joke is not funny if people end up pissed off after you tell the joke. If they're hurt in the process of telling the joke, you really need to relearn the concept of humor.

An example is the Republican Party. Just because you insulted the Democratic president on April 1st does NOT make it an April Fool's joke. It just means you chose an appropriate day to be inappropriate. Here's what they did: Obama Insult. Basically, for those not going to the article's site, the Republicans thought it would be a hoot to pretend to like Obama's ideas, and then they end their spot by talking about how they're joking and Obama is still essentially the anti-Christ (or something like that). Their actual joke is that they liked Obama's plan to cure global warming by:

"by replacing cars with low-emission unicorns” and achieving an unemployment rate of "negative 39 percent," among other “accomplishments."

I'm sorry, but insulting the person you're trying to punk doesn't come off as humorous. It comes off as insulting.

Google thought it was being clever this morning by changing its name to Topeka. On the surface, it might be kind of funny that Google decided to change its name to a town, but there's a darker joke being played here, and that's a direct slap at Topeka, which is trying very hard to become a site for a Google project (which playfully changed its name to Google for the chance of being recognized by Google). Well, here's where that joke turns really sour: If Topeka doesn't get the project it's vying for, then Google's little April Fool's joke goes from being playful to being straight out insulting, because it shows that it used Topeka as a brunt of its humor and had no intentions of actually awarding Topeka for actually going out of its way to honor Google in the first place. Instead, they would have made a grandiose gesure for nothing and got punk'd instead by Google.

That's not to say that some companies haven't got into the spirit of the day with just straight out fun. A couple of good examples are Starbucks and Blizzard.

Starbucks announced that it has two new coffee sizes: Plenta and Micra. Plenta is so big that it can be used as a rain hat or a lampshade, while Micra is only two ounces big. Fun all around cause it's a quick, one shot joke.

Blizzard, the makers of World of Warcraft, had two announcements on its main page. The first is somewhat cruel, but playful, because it pokes fun at players who are obsessed with equipment in the game (often referred to as Gearscore, from the site that tracks this in game). They announced a new tracking system that will be part of the game that is essentially a vertical line that continues to grow larger as your "e.p.e.e.n." continues to increase in the game. It plays on the Internet term "e-peen", which is kind of risque to explain otherwise. The verbage used to explain the article is filled with euphemisms and double entendres that are all sexually related, and it reads more like a Viagra commercial.

Their second ad was just fun. It advertises a new virtual reality visor you can buy that can be used to totally immerse yourself into the game. When it comes to ordering it, it retails for $14,999.00, and takes you directly to their store site, where it lists the product as "Sold Out". There appears to now be a new message on their site that indicates they are now advertising a new World of Warcraft "matchmaking service", which gives me the impression their Devs are going to be playing at this joke all day long.

Well, that's all for now. Nothing impacting, but just something to share for the day.

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