Monday is April Fools’ Day and just about everyone out there is going to play some sort of prank on one another. Including tech companies. Google has done it in the past along with Amazon, OnePlus, Microsoft and others. This year, it looks like Microsoft is asking everyone in the company to refrain from releasing any public April Fool’s Day pranks when Monday rolls around.
Marketing Chief Chris Capossela has sent out an internal memo to the company to not participate in Monday’s jokes. Capossela states in his memo that these pranks have “limited positive impact” and “result in unwanted news cycles.” Basically, this means it’s preventing some form of backfire. An example is Google’s mic drop Despicable Me GIF that was put in personal and professional emails and then muting them afterwards.
Hey everyone,
It’s that time of year when tech companies try to show their creativity with April Fools’ Day stunts. Sometimes the outcomes are amusing and sometimes they’re not. Either way, data tells us these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles.
Considering the headwinds the tech industry is facing today, I’m asking all teams at Microsoft to not do any public-facing April Fools’ Day stunts. I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day.
Please forward to your teams and internal partners to ensure people are aware of the ask to stand down on external April Fools’ Day activities.
Internal Microsoft memo
Microsoft taking a stand this year from partaking in
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
