As April kicks off, we round up the grocery sector’s best April Fool’s gags from both retailers and brands.
Sour Patch Kids? Nah, Sour Patch Adults
Sour Patch Kids social media page underwent an apparent rebrand when its characters seemingly hit puberty and were renamed “Sour Patch Adult”.
The sweets brand’s profile photo changed from its normal brightly colour image, to a monochrome frowning Sour Patch Adult wearing a suit and tie, alongside a simple tweet that read: “It’s time to grow up”.
A photo message explained the Mondelēz International-owned confectionery brand “deeply regretted the mischief tomfoolery or otherwise child-like behaviour in our past”.
It added: “We’ve recently arrived at a valuable conclusion: It’s time to grow up. Effectively immediately, we are Sour Patch Adults.”
Another photo showed a monochrome sour patch kid gazing gazing forlornly at is bright blue reflection with the caption: “Had to step back and reflect”.
However the epiphany seemed short-lived as the account soon posted a graphic of its usual bright sour patch kids graffiting the monochrome packet with the message, “just Kid-ing”.
Sainsbury’s double decker trolley
To mark April Fool’s Day, Sainsbury’s looked to trick shoppers with the ‘Double Decker Shopping Trolley’ which it said would be “coming to a store near you, soon”.
The supermarket showcased the innovation on its Instagram page, which features one trolley stacked on top of another, with the tagline “Your ‘big shop’ just got bigger”.
While some social media users were quick to comment that the trolley must be an April Fool’s joke, one said: “I honestly could do with this!”
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Terry’s ‘freshly squeezed’ Chocolate Orange
Terry’s Chocolate Orange took to Instagram to showcase a new juice format, which the brand said was made with “freshly squeezed Terry’s Chocolate Oranges”.
It said: “Plucked from the Terry’s Tree, only the most unsquare oranges are used for this tasty tipple! Hands up, who is taking a swig?”
Many users were quick to share their disappointment over the prank.
One commented: “Oh this shouldn’t be an April Fool’s, it should be real.” Another said: “This isn’t funny – people want Terry’s Chocolate Orange milk!! Give the people what they want.”
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Aldi launches LoveAisleland
Aldi took to social media to tease a brand-new reality TV show, Love Aisleland, to allow shoppers the opportunity to “find love on the aisles this summer”.
The grocery retailer’s new initiative, mimicked ITV’s popular dating show, Love Island, and suggested that customers would be able to find their “Specialguy” in-store.
However, the supermarket released a playful apology.
The post read: “Because of this, our boss has now confirmed that legally the show cannot go ahead and that although we give off the vibe that we love court cases, they are incredibly costly and going forward with this plan would not be “within our best interest”.”
“We are, however, committed to the idea of finding love in the aisles and hope that you will continue to join us in store to find your one true match. It might just have to be Mr Ribeye instead of Mr Right.”
Crosta & Mollica rebrands to Crust & Crumb
Italian food brand Crosta & Mollica claimed it was rebranding as its English translation, Crust & Crumb, in a bid to stop consumer giving up and calling it the “one with the stripy packaging.
The new name was prompted by the brand’s disappointment with consumers “continuous tongue twisting attempts to pronounce its Italian name”.
It announced it has “no choice” but to abandon its heritage brand name to “alleviate Brits’ common hesitation around unfamiliar pronunciations” and to avoid “puzzled looks across the dining table.”
Marking director Dan Lavender added: “Here at Crosta & Mollicaalleviating Brits’ common hesitation around unfamiliar pronunciations and puzzled looks across the dining table.
“We’re proud to be a brand that is made in Italy, using Italian ingredients and as such have a beautiful Italian name. But after years of listening to pizza lovers in the UK fumble over an attempted pronunciation or simply refer to us as ‘the stripy brand’, it’s time for a change.”
Walkers paranormal snack-tivity
Walkers embraced the paranormal this weekend, as it told the nation there was “a Wotsits-stealing ghost” at large in at London St. Paul’s The Viaduct Tavern – also known as City of London’s most haunted pub.
Releasing eerie CCTV footage on its social media platforms showing a crisp packet packet moving by itself, The PesiCo-owned crisps brand eventually revealed the stunt was in promotion of its new collaboration with upcoming Hollywood movie Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire.
A spokesperson from walkers said: “At Walkers, we’re always encouraging people to embrace their mischievous side, and April Fool’s Day is the perfect time to do it. So of course, we just couldn’t help but get in on the action with a little prank of our own.”
Dash Water royal legal mishap
Dash took to social media platform TikTok to prank both their own employees and their fans that flavoured water brand was being threatened with royal legal action.
Following its Limelight marketing campaign last year – where staff promoted the brand outside Prince Harry’s infamous court case by holding banners than read ”Harry doesn’t want the limelight but we do’ – the April Fools gag saw the Dash Water bosses fret over being sued by the royal heir.
The video shows two employees sit Dash’s head of brand and finance director down to break the unfortunate news.
The staff members add: “It’s from Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex…they’re suing us. They’re saying they’re owned a portion of Dash Lime sales. The worst part is that we have to take down all the content…but I guess if we do the court case, we could probably get new content?”
Luckily, the video ends with the two Dash boss’s faces of horror replaced with sighs of relief as the news is revealed to be only a prank.
Heinz Toning Shampoo
Heinz took to social media to release a picture of ‘Ketchup Toning Shampoo’.
The post read: “You’ve been tagging us in your hair disasters for years, so we thought it was time for Heinz Ketchup to officially make its way from the fridge to the shower.
“Introducing Heinz Ketchup Toning Shampoo, coming soon to the beauty aisle.”
