LOOK: Durian-flavored condoms and other April Fool's Day pranks

MANILA – Ads for a durian-flavored condom, a portable shower with its own bathing assistant, and an oversized "quadruple" fried chicken and bacon sandwich went viral on social media on Monday as businesses posted April Fool’s Day pranks.

DUREX 

A Facebook page promoting the contraceptive brand Durex announced new condom flavors using the popular Filipino delicacy pinipig, and the foul-smelling tropical fruit Durian. 

Over 4,000 Facebook users reacted to the “Kilig Pinipig” and “Dirty Durian” post. It has also been shared over 2,500 times as of writing.

HONESTBATH

Grocery food and delivery platform Honestbee surprised users with an "honestbath" campaign, promising to deliver a portable shower that comes with slippers, a fluffy towel, a shower curtain and even a bathing assistant. 

There's also a cheaper “Tabo bath,” option that still includes a bathing assistant. 

Honestbee confirmed to ABS-CBN News that the promotion was “an April Fool’s Day execution.”

Honestbee even produced a video for honestbath. 

DUNKIN’ DONUTS

Fans of Choco Butternut panicked after the popular doughnut brand said it would remove the variant from the shelves due to a "global Butternut shortage." 

Dunkin’ Donuts was quick to clarify that it was is a joke. Over 34,000 Facebook users reacted to the post. It has also been shared over 25,000 times as of writing. 

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

On a Facebook post, fast-food operator KFC said it would be releasing a "quadruple" version of its chicken sandwich "Double Down" meant for "hardcore meatheads." 

But KFC had to clarify in the comment section that the post was an April Fool's Day prank after 2,600 users reacted to it.

ZALORA

E-commerce platform Zalora, meanwhile, surprised consumers with an email saying that a “sexy red underwear” was shipped to their addresses.

Once opened, the email led consumers to a 25 percent promo code, which may or may not be another prank. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Google's Gmail prank on April Fool's Day backfires

MANILA - For years, Google has been known for releasing April Fool's Day pranks, much to the delight of the Internet. But this year, the tech giant had a prank that went terribly wrong.

The company introduced what it called "Gmail Mic Drop" which enables users to attach a GIF from a "Despicable Me" scene showing a minion dressed in king's clothes dropping the mic. The feature is embedded on the "Send and Archive" button, redesigned as "Send + Mic Drop" button. Google says replies to the email with the GIF will not be visible to the sender.


"Email's great, but sometimes you just wanna hit the eject button," Google explained in a blog post. "Like those heated threads at work, when everyone's wrong except you (obviously). Or those times when someone's seeking group approval, but your opinion is the only one that matters (amirite?). Or maybe you just nailed it, and there's nothing more to say (bam)."

But not everyone is happy with the prank.

A look at the Gmail Help Forum shows several complaints about the prank, with some saying it has cost them their jobs.

"Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job," Allan Pashby wrote in the forum. "I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the 'Mic Drop' send button. There were corrections that needed to be made on my articles and I never received her replies. My boss took offense to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn't reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this 'hilarious' prank."

User Justin Boxill had a similar story: "I just sent off an email with my resume to the first person who wanted to interview me in months. I clicked the wrong button and sent it with the mic drop. Well, I guess I'm not getting that job. Words cannot describe how pissed off I am right now. I'm actually shaking. One click, ONE CLICK and I lost the job. G****t. Not funny, google. I'm going to go cry now."


Another user named Abdus Salam also feared that the prank could cost his job prospects: "I have been interviewing with this company for 3 months now and mistakenly sent the email directly to guess who? The HR! Why would you do that? I so want this job; was due to start on Monday!"

"April fools jokes are great fun but not when they affect my business correspondence and increase the chance of something serious occurring like not seeing my clients' responses to important emails," wrote user Online Works, followed by an expletive-filled rant.

"I sent out an important email to 30 recipients and I inadvertently clicked the 'Mic Drop' Send," wrote user AJ456. "I completely did not mean to, and I realized what had happened after the fact. I tried to resend it without that, but it was too late."

Amid the backlash, Google dropped the feature and has been responding to complaints with this statement: "Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. Due to a bug, the MicDrop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We're truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

April Fools' Day: MMDA as Avengers

MANILA - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) tried to lighten up the mood on April Fools' Day.

The traffic agency posted a tweet that includes a photo of four MMDA traffic personnel made to look like superheroes Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor.

The tweet also had this April Fools' joke:

ADVISORY: Expect the MMDA Avengers today. Happy #AprilFools Day! :p pic.twitter.com/K2iv6bugES

— Official MMDA (@MMDA) April 1, 2016

This is not the first time the MMDA pulled off a prank on April Fools' Day.

Back in 2012, the MMDA tweeted: "ADVISORY: Number Coding is lifted today, April 1, Sunday.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Now you can play Pac-Man on Google Maps

MANILA - It's April Fool's Day, and leave it to Google to pull an April Fool's prank on netizens once again.

Google Maps has released on Wednesday a new feature that allows you to turn any place in the world into a game of Pac-Man.

All you have to do is go to Google Maps, choose a location (preferably those with a lot of streets), click the Pac-Man icon on the bottom left of your screen, and watch it turn into the classic arcade game complete with nostalgic music and colorful ghosts.

The feature is also available on mobile but you will need to download the official app, and will need to figure out some clues as to which streets can be turned into the pixelated classic.

For the full list and tips on which places are the best ones to play the game, head on over to Google's support page.

Pac-Man is an arcade game developed by Namco back in 1980. The goal of the game is to navigate the iconic yellow character through a maze, helping him gobble up all the available "pellets" on-screen, and set a high score.

This is not the first time Google has released a unique feature on April Fool's Day. Last year, the web giant's April Fool's Day prank allowed users to catch various Pokemon all over the world using its Google Maps app.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com