Laughing, right, is not a sin, or How to celebrate April 1

On April 1, in many countries it is customary to play pranks on each other and arrange pranks. Moskovskaya Pravda found out how to make the prank fun for all its participants, and not just for those who joke.

We conducted a mini-survey among our experts, asking them to give examples of successful and unsuccessful draws. Here’s what they said.

Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, founder of the Breaking Trends communication agency Yulia Zagitova:

– Draws on April 1 for some are a pleasant tradition, for others – an annoying hindrance in life, for others – one of the sources of income. Event agencies help organize the draw professionally. They collect the necessary information about the person who was “ordered”, sometimes attracting a whole team of actors.

Frequent, but still spectacular schemes: the “victim” is stopped by a traffic police patrol, and after a few minutes of excitement they are released with a present.

Another story can be set up with a car: a husband asks his wife to drive the car to a service or a car wash, and when the car is out of sight, a local “employee” in a panic tells the woman that something heavy has been dropped on the car. As a result, the lady discovers a new car that her husband bought for her.

Of the more budgetary options for the draw, one can name the organization of calls from the “president” or famous personalities, recorded in advance by parodists or using a voice forgery service.

When preparing a prank, one must take into account not only the personality and state of health of the person you want to play a joke on, but also the relevance of the topic, because in addition to the participants in the prank, there are also extraneous witnesses. The place where everything happens is also important: what is appropriate at home is not always decent in public places. And some actions of the participants in the draw can be regarded as illegal at all, and then no one will be laughing.

Psychologist, cognitive behavioral therapist Daria Noikina:

– There are different jokes, and what seems like sparkling humor to one person will turn out to be a serious insult to another. Unfortunately, many pranks are built on the humiliation and insult of another person. Everyone around is having fun, but not the object of a joke. In order to prevent this from happening, it is worth focusing on draws with a plus sign, that is, when a person as a result acquires something positive for himself.

For example, you can run to a colleague and say that she forgot something important in the next office and eventually hand her a chocolate bar. Or you can use the option of drawing from the Internet: you buy fast food with a friend, then you go down the subway, and your friend leaves for the nearest station. You enter the same door of the next train, go to the passenger-driver communication button and pretend to speak into the microphone. You order loudly and clearly: “Hamburger, rustic fries and a small cola.” At the next station, a friend enters the car and hands you a bag of food, to everyone’s surprise.

Both of these draws are positive: in the first case, a person gets a chocolate bar, and in the second, those around them get a good mood. No one was humiliated or offended.

Before you arrange pranks, you should think about what it would be like for you if you were played a joke on you like that. So will it be funny to you if in the morning your toothbrush is glued to a glass, and you are late for work? Or if a brick was planted in your bag and the whole department laughs at your attempts to understand why it suddenly became so heavy?

Jokes can really hurt, especially public ones. One wrong action, a little toxic or done at a not entirely good moment, and you can seriously offend a loved one or make an enemy out of your job. Therefore, if you already decide to joke on the first of April, you should think it over carefully.

GGeneral Director of PR Partner Communications Agency Inna Anisimova:

– Some pranks are really quite harmless and funny, and some can lead to serious trouble.

Harmless pranks are swapping salt for sugar in a cup of coffee, changing the wallpaper on your computer desktop, stickers with funny messages pasted on a friend’s car, or renaming the contacts of loved ones in a friend’s phone book.

But you need to know the measure. Do not play with pyrotechnics or oil door handles, change the oil in a car and other dangerous things.

In order not to upset or scare a person, you can come up with a funny scenario and tune it in a positive way. By the way, marketers of companies perfectly know how to use this holiday, playing their audience. Here is a selection of interesting examples.

1. Studio GSC Game World decided to please its fans on April 1 with a comic video “(Un)cut content”, in which the authors of STALKER 2 demonstrate a knife model from different angles during a five-minute 4K video.
2. Razer has unveiled a hair dye that features app-controlled RGB lighting. This product is designed by a well-known manufacturer of computer peripherals‎.
3. Kaspersky Lab has introduced its new product – a virtual space for complex relaxation called Cyber ​​Spa. The users were offered several treatments, including visual-auditory meditations, audio relaxation with the sounds of the future, a set of facial exercises and multi-level tactile meditation. All treatments are based on proven self-relaxation techniques, and the sounds for technosound therapy are specially created by the company and are almost impossible to hear in real life.

Alexey Yakovlev, Head of the Marketing Department of the outsourcing company Mimino:

– Examples of harmless pranks include lying to friends that you won the lottery or a fake note from a secret admirer left on a colleague’s desktop. Such pranks can bring a smile and should not cause serious negative consequences. However, if a prank would offend, frighten, or harm a person, it should not be played. For example, posting false messages that a person has lost a job or is postponing a wedding can cause a lot of stress and negative emotions in the victim. In addition, the prank must not touch on sensitive topics such as religion, race, or sexuality. Here are a few examples of successful and unsuccessful draws.

Lucky Draws:

– The company released a fake software update that was presented to employees as real, but instead it turned all images into pixelated animations. This brought smiles and amusement to the employees without causing any harm to anyone.

– A wife played a prank on her husband who liked beer: she replaced his favorite brand with non-alcoholic beer and put it in the refrigerator. When the husband opened the jar and tasted the contents, he was surprised, but it made both of them laugh and cheer up.

Unsuccessful draws:

– friends decided to play a trick on their friend, who was afraid of snakes. They invited him to the zoo, pre-recorded the sounds of hissing snake, and turned on the recording when they were in one of the pavilions. This caused the victim of the prank a lot of stress and fear, which could lead to serious negative consequences.

– the students decided to play their teacher by placing in his textbook instructions for preparing for the exam, written in an ancient language that the teacher did not understand. This resulted in the teacher being frustrated and angry.

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In general, the draw can be considered successful, as a result of which the mood of all participants rose. Perhaps the secret of success lies in playing pranks, loving and respecting others and, of course, taking into account their individual characteristics. Well, if you yourself become a victim of a not very successful joke on April Fool’s Day, try not to get angry and not harbor a grudge. No wonder there is a saying: “The fools are not offended.”

Prepared by Alena Bodrienko.

Photo from site fonstola.ru