Cold Storage cargo pants, invisible laundry basket: 8 April Fool's pranks that made us laugh

April Fool's Day may be over but its spirit of fun and mischief still lingers. As usual, companies and brands have taken this annual custom to prank their consumers.

Here are eight from Singapore and elsewhere that made us laugh.

1. COLD STORAGE SINGAPORE

Taking inspiration from its own name, supermarket Cold Storage rolled out its new line of cold storage cargo pants. These fashion-forward pants feature insulated cargo pockets perfect to beat the heat. Too bad they’re not real.

2. DUOLINGO 

Duolingo is no stranger to April Fool’s pranks. Last year, the language learning app partnered with US streaming network Peacock to produce a trailer for its fake reality TV dating show – Love Language.

And this year, the iconic green owl can be seen gliding across the ice rink in its ad for its new four-hour, no intermission, multilingual musical – Duolingo On Ice.

3. KANTIN AT JEWEL CHANGI

Bornean restaurant KANTIN added its own twist on the classic sponge cake. It took to Instagram to share reels of its newest dessert that’s worthy of joining the Netflix series Is It Cake?.

This lemon butter cake was made to look like a dishwashing sponge, and it even had some green detergent to top it off. 

4. TINDER 

Ghosting is one of the most prevalent dating dilemmas today. Popular dating app Tinder took it upon itself to tackle this phenomenon head-on, by creating a new, non-existent position – the VP of Ghost Hunting, reporting to its West Hollywood, California, office. 

5. THE POKEMON COMPANY

Fans of Pokemon would know that in 2023, the gaming company released their gamified sleep tracker – the Pokemon Sleep app. For this year’s April Fool’s, The Pokemon Company leaned into their Pokemon Sleep app to reveal the Pokemon Sleep Champion Tournament 2024. Finally, a sport we can excel in – if only. 

6. IKEA SINGAPORE

Looking to declutter? Furniture giant Ikea just launched its new line of invisible furniture. 

Aptly named INVSBAL, this prank collection has transparent laundry baskets, shoe racks, storage boxes and picture frames all for the price of S$1.04.

7. DOMINO'S SINGAPORE

As part of its sustainable efforts, pizza chain Domino's announced its new campaign "No boxes, no problem!". Patrons now have to hand-carry their piping hot pizzas with their bare hands. Just kidding.

8. WATSONS SINGAPORE

The best way to try bath and body products is by showering. Watsons announced that there will be free shower facilities at all of their stores. 

“No, seriously. We’re kidding,” said Watsons in their Instagram post.