April Fools Survey: Consumers Split Over Business Pranks

aytm logo icon
Posted Apr 01, 2016

It’s April Fools’ Day! The annual holiday provides an opportunity for pranksters to play jokes on their friends and family members. And in recent years, some businesses have even gotten into the holiday spirit by coming up with their own jokes or pranks that get their customers or followers involved. So how many people enjoy April Fools’ Day? And what are their favorite ways to celebrate?

april fools

April Fools’ Pranks

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 28% of respondents said that they are at least somewhat likely to prank people on April Fools’ Day this year. And 33% of respondents said that they are at least somewhat likely to get pranked by someone else this year. Those numbers are a bit higher than they were last year. According to an April 2015 survey, just 21% planned on pranking others last year, and 25% said they were likely to get pranked. Overall, 21% of respondents said they’ve done April Fools’ Day pranks multiple times in the past. And 38% have done so at least once. On the other hand, 21% said they’ve gotten pranked by others multiple times in the past. And 41% said it’s happened to them once or twice.

Holiday Opinions

In general, 30% said they have a positive opinion of April Fools’ Day. 21% said they dislike the holiday. And 48% said they’re pretty neutral about it. 66% of those who enjoy April Fools’ Day said that their favorite pranks are simple jokes or untrue stories. 34% like hiding or disguising items. 30% like replacing items with lookalikes. 28% enjoy scary pranks. And 4% have no preference.

Business Pranksters

When it comes to businesses, 24% of respondents said they generally enjoy when businesses get involved with April Fools’ Day pranks. 27% dislike it. 31% are neutral. And 19% said they’ve never seen businesses get involved with April Fools’ Day. Google was the number one brand mentioned by respondents who have enjoyed the company’s April Fools’ Day jokes.