Pastizzi-scented candles anyone? April opens with traditional pranks

Businesses, educational institutions, TV programmes and even political societies were among those to usher in April with a traditionally humorous approach.

Fake new products – and vendors – parking changes and rule changes were among the April Fool’s jokes to hit the internet Tuesday.

Drinks manufacturer Kinnie took to Instagram to launch a supposed new energy drink product, ‘Kinnergy’, featuring the company’s flagship product’s “signature taste with an extra energy boost”.

Comments underneath the post seemed to indicate the jig was up however, with social media users quickly identifying the post as an April Fool’s joke. 

Candle company Wicks & Locks tried to convince Instagram followers the time was ripe for pastizzi-scented candles, “for those obsessed with pastizzi but can’t handle the heartburn.” 

Describing its supposed ‘Flaky Temptation’ candle as a “warm base of toasted pastry crumbs lingers, making you swear there’s a pastizzeria nearby”, the post showed a video of the product, artfully arranged pastizzi on a plate – and an obligatory cup of tea in a glass cup.

Recipe-themed Facebook page Cheat.mt might have left social media users doubting the authors’ judgement after the page announced a bold recipe for “Maltese rabbit in chocolate strawberry sauce”, complete with an accompanying image.

Meanwhile, media outlet Lovin Malta appeared to engage in its annual social media prank with the launch, not of a new product, but a food vendor called ‘Bus Ate’, dubbed as Malta's first ever-food bus. Yet the name is a wordplay on the Maltese word for 'I farted'.

Within a few hours, the outlet announced the food bus had already sold out on food ordering platform Bolt Food.

Taxi company eCabs took to Facebook to announce the launch of its new ‘FadeGo’ service supposedly offering haircuts to passengers while on their way to their destination.

The University of Malta was home to two pranks; in a Facebook post that morning it announced that parking on campus during work hours would in future be charged at 30 cents per hour.

While some may have been dismayed at first read, the university’s warning that parking would be monitored by “cutting-edge technology, called Controlled Use of Cars (CUC)” may have allayed some fears.

"Ċuċ" refers to someone foolish or gullible.

Taking a different tack, the University of Malta library staff released a video showing a book called ‘What men know about women’ being handed out to visitors – who, upon flicking through the book, quickly discovered that all its pages were blank.

Business directory Findit! announced news the mainstream media appeared to have missed – that from the summer, pedestrians would be forced to walk on the left side of the pavement in line with traffic rules, courtesy of a new “Sidewalk Alignment and Flow Enforcement Act (SAFE Act)”.

Santa Venera local council caused some consternation among Facebook users at first when it announced the requirement for every pigeon landing on a property to be registered with the council. It soon set the record straight in a comment underneath the post.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Party youth organisation MŻPN used the opportunity to take a dig at the governing Labour Party’s record on the environment.