The format of a My Take is 150 words – no more, no less – to express an opinion on a different topic each week. This week’s topic was April Fools
In 2020 many companies and public figures made the choice not to pull pranks for April Fool’s Day. We were less than a month into a global pandemic and there was some legitimate concern about the impacts that jokes might have on a population that was isolated and feeling unsure about what was going on.
Last year, a few corporate and larger-scale hoxes reappeared, although still not on the scale of pre-pandemic jokesters.
Comparing the two, I wonder if the 2020 approach might be the better one for this moment in time.
I love a good joke, and I fully believe that it is possible to pull a prank that is just silly fun. The bigger the
scale, though, the more room there is for unintentional harm.
With public trust in institutions already shaky, now is not the time to test what people will believe.
