Friday, March 28, 2008

Crafty April Fool's Day Pranks

The topic for this week's EtsyBlogger's blog carnival is April Fool's. I thought it would be fun to see how people have used artistic talent, or at least creative talent, to trick others in All Fools Day history. After browsing through The Museum of Hoaxes' Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time, I have found several pranks that were rather crafty.

Talented gardeners:

A respected news show on BBC titled Panorama announced to its viewers in 1957 that the Swiss were celebrating a great spaghetti crop, including footage of spaghetti being plucked from trees. The report narrated by BBC anchor Richard Dimbleby can be seen below:



Many fell for the hoax, calling the station to find out where they can get these spaghetti trees.

Photo Shoppers:
In 2005, Popular Photography magazine published a controversially edited photo that was origianally taken by Dorothea Lange. This historical photo, "Migrant Mother," was edited to removed the children as well as her wrinkles to "save the photo." This changed the woman from being a symbol of having the ability to endure hardships to one of having a relaxed state of motherhood. Outraged readers wrote to the magazine; the editors referred them to the date of publication.


Helpful Hints from Kjell Stensson

Before Heloise and Martha Stewart were giving household advice, Kjell Stensson, a technical expert at Sveriges Television (STV) advised Sweden on how to turn their black and white television into color TV using materials around the house. At this time, in 1962, it was the only television station in Sweden, and it broadcast in only black and white. Stensson recommended ripping a pair of nylon stockings and taping the material over the television screen, causing the light to bend back and forth. If one was to sit at the right distance and move their head back and forth just right, it would create a color image. Many admitted to falling for the prank. Color broadcasts regularly began in Sweden on the eighth year anniversary of this hoax.



3 comments:

julie king said...

i found the april fool's info very interesting! i'm impressed by the time and research you put into this. i'll be back to visit again. i enjoyed it.

Paisley The Jackabee said...

Good read, thanks for participating.

cserpentDesigns said...

LOL! Great way to blog about this - the hoaxes you described were great!