2022 PRANK OF THE YEAR

JLab

The more innovative headphones get, the more subtle they become. The next phase of this evolution is Invisibuds, a new line of invisible earbuds released by audio company JLab. And while this technological breakthrough may not be real, it's still a
prank-oligcal breakthrough, with JLab announcing the product in a hilarious video boasting the earbuds ability to connect to over 100 different devices and automatically skip over what it deems "trash music." The company even went as far as to create a fake product page on their website complete with photos of earbud-shaped shadows against an otherwise blank canvas.
Congrats JLab! In the land of tomfoolery, you're the law of the land.

BEST USE OF GOVERNMENT RESOURCES 

National Weather Service

Perhaps the most surprising prankster this year was the National Weather Service, a typically-formal federal agency who showed off their comedic chops with a funny announcement that they were ditching the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature model in favor of the Kelvin scale. In a website screenshot that accompanied the post, it was 275 K in Indianapolis (with a windchill of 270 K). Our tax dollars well spent!

BEST COLLABORATION BETWEEN A KETCHUP COMPANY AND A COOKIE COMPANY

Heinz / Oreo

Fans of Oreo's signature cream filling and Heinz's signature tear-and-squeeze packets will not only be tickled by the idea of a cookie cream packet, they'll wish it was real. Kudos to these two culinary heavyweights for joining forces to generate a prank just subtle enough to fool anyone who may not know what day it is.

HONORABLE MENTION

Duluth Trading Company

The concept of clothing sewed with beard hair sheared off of "free-range" lumberjacks deserves not only a shout out, but a round of applause. Well done, Duluth Trading Company!

BEST EVENT PLANNING FOR A FAKE EVENT

ReallyGoodEmails.com

Planning a prank takes time. Planning an event revolving around your prank takes even more time. Props to ReallyGoodEmails.com, who raised eyebrows in an announcement that they were pivoting their annual UNSPAM conference - a gathering to discuss email strategies - to a SPAM conference - a gathering to discuss Gelatinous meat. Well-crafted jokes aside, they used the prank to raise donations towards World Central Kitchen, an organization that feeds families on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

BEST USE OF PHOTOSHOP

Great Lakes Northern Outfitter

While the concept of "cat bathing suits" is funny in its own right, it's the next-level Photoshop that put this prank by fellow Minnesota-based company Great Lakes over the edge. The cat diving off a dock into a lake while sporting feline-friendly swim trunks around its waist is as funny as it is realistic-looking. Pair that with the words "Lake Cat Collection" written in a chic magazine-friendly font and you've got a pretty authentic ad. If we were a cat brand, we'd be consulting the Great Lakes marketing team right about now.