On April Fools’ Day in 1996 Taco Bell ran an ad that looked
like a press release, saying they’d just bought the Liberty Bell and were renaming
it the Taco Liberty Bell. The White House press secretary at the time fielded
calls on the subject, adding that the Lincoln Memorial had just been sold to
the Ford Motor Company. Two years later Burger King announced that they were
making a new Whopper sandwich for left-handed people. The ingredients had been
rotated 180 degrees, making it easier for lefties to enjoy. On April 1 1992 the
National Public Radio show Talk of the Nation announced that Richard Nixon was
running for president again with the slogan, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I
won’t do it again.”
NPR was flooded with
calls from outraged listeners. It occurs to me that all my favorite April Fools’
Day hoaxes are at least fifteen years old. Is April Fooling a dying art?
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