You may hate (or love) April Fools’ Day pranks, but tech companies surely love them. Big or small, pranks from major tech companies have become pretty common over the last several years. It’s a day when companies promise out-of-the-world products and services, and, unfortunately, some people actually end up falling for them. While some pranks are purely hilarious, some seem very close to being real. But Microsoft is finally taking a stand against it.
Microsoft is putting an end to April Fools’ Day pranks. In an internal memo, obtained and verified by The Verge, Microsoft’s marketing head Chris Capossela has asked everyone in the company to not indulge in any ‘public-facing April Fools’ Day stunts’.
In his memo, Capossela claims such pranks have a very limited positive impact and can result in ‘unwanted news cycles’. While most people on the Internet have now grown used to such pranks, it’s still hard to filter out the real news on April Fools’ Day when everyone is throwing all sorts of silly pranks at you.
Microsoft’s move seems to make a lot of sense, especially in the age of social media where fake news takes just a few minutes to spread around. In his memo, Capossela, further adds, “I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day.”
