Every April Fools' Day, businesses and well-known institutions step up to the challenge of pranking their customers – and some attempts have been more outlandish than others.

From the Chocolate Whopper to covered-up cats​, discover some of the best April Fools' shenanigans pulled off by the world’s biggest companies. 

Having pioneered the idea of TV April Fools' pranks, the BBC managed to fool a few Brits again on April Fools' Day 1976. Astronomer and broadcaster Patrick Moore (pictured) announced that at 9:47am on 1 April, an alignment of Pluto and Jupiter would cause a temporary reduction in the Earth's gravity.

He told listeners who wanted to experience the sensation of floating to jump at that exact moment. People flooded the BBC's phone lines with stories of weightlessness. There was, of course, no weight to the claims.

Fast-food giant Taco Bell got people hot under the collar in 1996 when it took out advertisements in several major American newspapers stating that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Readers were furious to learn that one of the most historic symbols of America's independence was being taken over by corporate America.

The National Historic Park in Philadelphia, where the bell is kept, was said to have been inundated with phone calls. 

On April Fools' Day 1998, Burger King introduced the left-handed Whopper, specially designed for the millions of left-handed Americans. It featured all the same ingredients as the standard Whopper, but the contents were skewed to the left, reducing the risk of toppings sliding out from the right-hand side of the burger. Burger King even announced future plans to release the concept in other countries with large left-handed populations.

The company reported that many people tried to order one.

British supermarket chain Tesco revealed on 1 April 2002 that it had developed whistling carrots. In a spoof article published in The Sun newspaper, it claimed that its genetically modified carrots would whistle a very loud 97-decibel signal when they had reached their optimum cooking temperature.

The article continued: "Opponents of the scheme predicted a nightmare scenario for future generations becoming as deaf as a post, albeit with improved vision". 

Mobile tech company Qualcomm took the world by surprise on 1 April 2009 when it revealed it was going to implant tiny base stations into wolf pigeons, a mix of wolf and pigeon, in order to expand its wireless coverage. It said it had created the hybrid animal as it would be better at protecting itself than a standard pigeon and that lone wolf pigeons would be willing to go out to areas where coverage was pretty weak.

The joke flew over the heads of many.

Famous for its 1 April pranks, in 2011 tech giant Google revealed that it had pioneered Google Motion, a technology that enabled you to write emails by using only hand gestures picked up by your webcam.

Although it was intended as a joke, some programmers highlighted that it was actually possible to create a programme that would enable emails to be written by hand gestures alone. A big thumbs-up to them.

For April Fools' Day 2011, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson announced that he'd bought the former planet Pluto for an undisclosed sum. His next mission was to have Pluto reinstated as an official planet, following its declassification by the International Astronomical Union in 1996.

He said he was developing a special deep-space vehicle that would help to bulk up Pluto to its required planetary mass – an astronomical feat indeed.

Eyewear firm Warby Parker launched its eyewear range for dogs on 1 April 2012. Named Warby Barker, it featured a range of different styles of eyewear to suit any pooch with poor sight. There were even monocles for dogs who wanted to look particularly distinguished.

Users that fell for the prank and added a frame to their cart were greeted with the phrase "April Fools!" The site is still live and pet owners are still falling for it.

In 2015, Sony introduced the world to the PlayStation Flow, designed to take the PS4 gameplay experience to a deeper level. When playing a PS4 game that takes you underwater, Sony claimed you would be able to pause the game while you don the PlayStation Flow goggles, wearable action sensors, and your swimming gear and go to your nearest swimming pool.

Once in the pool you could continue playing, literally underwater.

Tinder and Uber also got in on the action in 2015 when they announced the option to make a Tinder match with an Uber driver. One of the perks of this romantic arrangement was that the driver would agree to split the fare with you. You also got to meet almost immediately, although it might have taken a little longer than usual for you to choose your driver.

A few people likely got taken for a ride.

On 1 April 2016 the National Geographic media group announced that it would be ending the practice of publishing photos of animals without clothes on as it was degrading. It made this statement alongside a series of surreal images, similar to this one, of dressed-up cats and dogs produced by photographer Harry Whittier Frees in the early 1900s.

Some said it was in paw taste.

Famous for its collaborations with global icons, H&M announced a parody website markforhm.com on 1 April 2016 with the news that it had launched a Mark Zuckerberg clothing line. Known at the time for his simple clothing choices, the collection featured just seven grey T-shirts and a pair of basic jeans.

The site used this quote allegedly from the Facebook founder: "I really want to clear my life so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community". 

In another Google prank, in 2017 the tech giant announced the arrival of Google Wind in the Netherlands. Powered by the Google Cloud Platform, Google Wind was going to fix the country's poor weather by connecting all of its windmills and syncing them to spin simultaneously when required to blow away the all-too-prevalent rain clouds. It announced that, from 1 April, Google Wind would "guarantee clear skies for everyone".

People were blown away.

Furniture giant IKEA announced it was introducing a series of new services on 1 April 2017. These included: a Swedish massage centre, a full-service bar, and an arbitration centre where a professional mediator would be available to help couples or roommates who are reduced to arguing about whether to get the Billy bookcase in blue or beige.

Thousands of people clicked on the "Find Out More" tab to be greeted with the phrase "Happy April Fool’s Day!"

In 2017 Irish betting firm Paddy Power announced that it had been looking at sponsoring something that combined the thrill of live horse racing with an underwater sport event. Its answer? Sea horse racing. It was pointed out that the creatures were very difficult to train and that their saddles kept falling off.

A few people enjoyed being taken along for the ride.

Mall of America declared it was bringing in texting lanes on 1 April 2017. To reduce pedestrian traffic jams and the risk of injury and to help customers navigate the vast mall safely while texting or tweeting on smartphones, it said it was marking out lanes for texters and non-texters.

However, as this was a reality in the Chinese city of Chongqing and the Belgian city of Antwerp, people may have been disappointed to learn it was a prank!

On 1 April 2017 Japanese car manufacturer Honda announced its latest app – H-Swipe – for those who want to find love at the wheel. It advised those interested to download it directly to their dashboards. Only activated when the car is stationary, the images of potential nearby suitors would pop up on the car windscreen and the driver would use the windscreen wipers to swipe left or right and accept or reject the date.

Watch out Tinder!

On 1 April 2017 phone company T-Mobile revealed it would be taking unlimited coverage to another level by introducing the world's first full-body wearable. The T-Mobile Onesie boasted it was couture meets connectivity and that it provided an unlimited human hotspot.

The joke soon wore thin.

TV streaming service hulu announced on 1 April 2017 that it would be launching a new service called hu. Designed to cater for short attention spans, hu would condense TV shows into eight-second segments, perfect for the hectic lives we live today.

The time-saving device even came goldfish-approved. 

Amazon enjoys an April Fools' Day prank and on 1 April 2017 it revealed its latest tweak to its Alexa voice-activated device: Petlexa. Petlexa was supposedly able to understand pet speak so it could order sushi for the cat, count the hamster's wheel rotation steps, and activate the ball-throwing machine for the dog.

Online language-learning service Duolingo launched its first emoji course on 1 April 2017. It was designed to ensure that anyone could learn the emoji language by putting in just five minutes of study a day. One user said: "Now I can finally talk to my daughter in a language she’ll understand."

There may have been a few smiley faces at this one.

Pizza Hut cooked up its Pizza Huts Spa Retreats on 1 April 2017. Pizza Hut delivery drivers would whisk customers away to a spa retreat in a secluded location. Here they could enjoy pepperoni face masks and a hot tub where they could relax and savour Pizza Hut's custom garlic dip. 

Dogs feature heavily in April Fools' pranks, and BMW was another company to use them in its 1 April 2017 campaign. The dDrive dog bed promised to recreate for dogs the thrill of riding with your head out of the car window without having to leave home. The luxurious dog bed came equipped with a fan to simulate the perfect drive from your bed.

Unfortunately it wasn't fur real.

In 2017, IKEA pulled another prank when it announced the launch of a low-cost airline. FLIKEA "will be a single-class, low-cost carrier that will travel to many international destinations, and will include the world’s first non-stop flight from Sweden to Australia", the retailer said.

Another mocked-up illustration pictured passengers reclining on seats with footrests while being served the furniture giant's famous meatball dish by cabin staff.

When it released this prank ad in 2018, Burger King certainly looked to be sweetening up its offering. Every element of a regular burger was parodied: a chocolate patty instead of a beef patty, a chocolate cake bun instead of bread, raspberry syrup in the place of ketchup and even milk chocolate leaves to look like lettuce.

We'll be on the lookout to see if they whip out another Whopper joke this year...

Everyone knows that money doesn’t grow on trees, but could you print it with a phone app? That’s what PayPal UK suggested when it announced its Print Money app on 1 April 2018.

It’s safe to say that this wasn’t the biggest budget prank of the year, and not many were fooled by the £5 note placed behind the smartphone in the ad.

While some April Fools' jokes are downright ridiculous, this is one we could actually get on board with: Lego's "VacuSort", a genius brick-sorting vacuum cleaner that divides Lego bricks from dust and dirt.

When the brand posted it on its Facebook page in 2018, many were sad to realise it wasn't real – anyone who's trodden on Lego in the middle of the night will know why.

Google’s parent company Alphabet went all out for April Fools’ Day in 2019, including the announcement of Google Tulip, a service where all Google Home devices could communicate with flowers, and a ride-sharing service for pets courtesy of Waymo. But the best of Google’s offerings was the announcement of its “Screen Cleaner” feature.

Android users were encouraged to find the feature in their mobile’s files app if they spilled something on their screens, and the device would spot the dirt using its “smudge detector API”. It would then employ micro-vibrations to shake off the mess. Hopefully Google users weren’t left in a sticky situation after that feature proved to be a prank…

The dating app took things to new heights in 2019 when it announced the imminent launch of a new verification feature. Based on the premise that some people may not tell the whole truth when it comes to saying how tall they are online, Tinder users could earn a badge on their profile by taking a photo of themselves next to a commercial building to verify their height.

The joke wasn’t a great match for a lot of users though, and many thought the move was genuine after the company posted about it on 29 March rather than 1 April. 

Many Lego fans were disappointed to learn that the company’s launch of a Find My Brick app was all an elaborate April Fools’ Day ruse in 2019. A parody of Apple’s Find My iPhone app, Lego’s tech would be able to scan a pile of bricks to locate that piece that you just can’t seem to find.

Seems that every 1 April Lego builds up fans’ hopes just to knock them back down again...

Most big companies chose to lay off the pranks on 1 April 2020, saying it didn’t feel appropriate given the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Video UK took a different approach and decided that a bit of laughter was exactly what users needed and announced the release of a canine spin-off to its superhero series The Boys called The Good Boys.

Fans were delighted by the prospect, and many had a bone to pick with the streaming service when the series never materialised.

Have you ever wanted to make it clear that somebody definitely wasn't invited to your event? Wedding planning platform Hitched.co.uk claimed to have you covered in 2022 when it announced it was stocking 'un-invitations' that you could send to unwelcome guests.

Featuring useful information such as "Date: None of your Business" and "Location: Not Telling You", some couples may well have been disappointed when they found out the product was a joke.

Have you ever wished your order of chicken nuggets was a little more... wearable? We're guessing not, but that didn't stop McDonald's from "unveiling the Big McNugget Boot, the most flavoursome shoe of SS23" on April Fools' Day.

Strongly resembling a pair of Ugg boots, but with the unmistakable texture of McDonald's batter, the fake footwear was far from convincing. Anyone who fell for this one was definitely m-Ugged off.

Now discover 13 world-changing inventions that were actually stolen​

Updated by Alice Cattley