Let's Lighten Up In Honor of April Fools Day

The recession, the G20 Summit protests, the fact that my favorite clothes are no longer fitting because I can't get my lazy posterior to the gym... Bad news is everywhere. So today in honor of April Fools, lets lighten things up and look back at some of the best public relations April Fools stunts in history- thanks to Ragan.com!

• The Swiss spaghetti harvest. In 1957 the BBC reported that a mild Swiss winter, combined with a decline in the “spaghetti weevil” population, had resulted in a record crop of spaghetti in Switzerland. Swiss farmers were shown happily harvesting spaghetti from trees, and many viewers called in to find out how to grow their own spaghetti trees.

• Reduced gravity. Sir Patrick Moore, a British astronomer, told the BBC in 1976 that an unusual alignment of the planets Jupiter and Pluto would result in lower gravity on April 1 at 9:47 a.m. He urged people to jump up into the air to experience the “strange floating sensation” that the phenomenon would produce. The BBC received calls from listeners claiming to feel the effects.

• The Taco Liberty Bell. Taco Bell Corp. announced on April 1, 1996, that it had purchased the historic Liberty Bell and planned to rename it the “Taco Liberty Bell.” Angry citizens called Philadelphia’s National Historic Park to protest.

• The value of pi. The New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter reported in its April 1998 issue that the Alabama state legislature had passed a law rounding off the value of pi to 3.0, replacing its original value of 3.14159 . . . (and so on). Lawmakers in Alabama received hundreds of unhappy calls and letters. This was followed up in 2008 by a Microsoft executive who posted on his personal blog that Microsoft Research had determined the true value of pi to be 3.141999, or, as described in company brochures, “three easy payments of 1.047333.”