The best of 2025’s April Fools advertising stunts and strategies
By Luis Rogers, Media Apprentice
April Fool’s Day has become an iconic one for many of the UK’s favourite brands in advertising. From hilariously fake products to viral stunts, the big day once again caused mass discussion over the country both online and in person. Here are some of the funniest and most effective campaigns brought to us this year:
Lipton – The ‘Discontinued’ Strategy:
On 18th March 2025, Lipton released a statement on social media stating that they are discontinuing their beloved Peach Ice Tea. This was only for the brand to release a statement the next day confirming this was all an ‘early April fool’s joke’.
Despite the sickening news only lasting 24 hours, social media erupted, and the message started to go viral. #RIPeach was used by thousands online trying do their best to make sure their favourite beverage isn’t taken off the shelves. “Please rethink this decision I’m going to throw up,” and “Guys, if you do this, my wife will be fuming” were some of the hilarious reactions posted online by fans of the drink. We even saw people making TikTok’s rushing to buy as much as they could, with the concern around future availability.
Numbers wise, both posts by Lipton managed to record a combined 23m+ views on X, 12M+ TikTok views and 370k+ likes on Instagram. Overall, this extremely smart way of increasing awareness and engagement for Lipton gained an insane amount of discussion across the internet and likely outside of it. We also saw this inspire other brands such as Lynx, who pretended to discontinue their iconic Africa body spray just two days after Lipton’s post – which in return saw a similar reaction.
Cadbury – #CremeEggOnTheGoo:
The UK’s leading chocolate brand posted a short-form video made by creative agency Elvis to TikTok and Instagram introducing the ‘On The Goo’ sachets, which contain the centre of a Cadbury Crème Egg. These new sachets allow customers to add the goo to any dish they desire with hopes of answering the question “How do you eat yours?”. Brand manager Josh Collier stated, “The condiment game is changed forever, nothing compares to the goo!
The video gained most of its attention through TikTok with 880k+ views to date. As expected, the forged product still managed to cause major concern in the comment section – “This looks illegal” said some who clearly weren’t appealed by the sugary condiment whilst other were devastated knowing the product is likely fake – “Please tell me this isn’t an April fool’s joke. This should be a real thing.”
Currys – The ‘De-Boner’ crafted by Phillips in collaboration with Wingstop:
Electrical retail company Currys collaborated with Phillips and fast-food chicken restaurant Wingstop to create the world’s first fully automated chicken wing de-boning machine. The De-Boner strips every bit of meat off the bone in seconds, reducing waste and saving valuable time. Currys believe the machine is the perfect solution for restaurants, catering services and home cooks who want to streamline their wing preparation process”.
The original introduction of the De-Boner was shown within a minute long video uploaded to TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook by Currys on April 1st. The video features three UK influencers in a Wingstop being stopped and amazed by a Currys worker showing off the new machine to them. TikTok performed the best metrics wise with 370k views on the original post, and a further 2 million views on a TikTok showcasing how the De-Boner works posted by the MetroUK TikTok account. Those on social media were once again torn on the overall practicality of this product practical. While some stated, “I’d actually buy this if it wasn’t April fools”, others weren’t sure and encouraged those intrigued to “Just buy boneless wings”.
As an extra April Fools trick, Currys showed the product listed on their website at £99.99, yet it is forever ‘out of stock’ as there is only one real machine that has been used in the ads. Despite this, it likely resulted in increased traffic to their website for those who actually wanted one!
Walkers – Flavour Colour Swap:
Crisp brand Walkers has teased its fans for April fool’s with and out-of-home and social activation suggesting a packaging swap for its two flagship flavours; Cheese & Onion and Salt & Vinegar. The hoax plays on a point of British historical controversy, many Brits believe that Walkers once swapped the colours back in the mid-90s, with several even claiming they remember a TV advert from Walkers where the two flavours ‘swapped shirts’ at a football match to announce the change. But Walkers has always maintained this switch never happened. Many fans of the crisps have also never understood the brand going against the industry by using the blue bags for Cheese & Onion flavour and green for Salt & Vinegar.
Following the news, influencers flooded to social media. Countless TikTok’s were posted discussing and ranting about the colour swap, with the most popular video gaining 1.4m views. Popular Instagram pages such as @thearchbishopofbanterbury also posted images of what appear to be leaked shots of the crisp packets in new colours. As it may be evident by this point, fans once again took a divided approach to the stunt online. Some rejoiced at the change stating, “I hope this is real because it makes so much more sense”, whereas others we’re clearly devastated with one user commenting, “NOOOOO WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT”.
To finalise, I believe April Fool’s remains one of the most fun and effective days in advertising. It allows agencies and brands to be collaborative and creative whilst simultaneously creating videos and stunts with high potential of going viral and maximising brand objectives.
