Microsoft warns employees against pulling off April Fools’ pranks

Many firms try to pull off various gags on April Fools’ day, which often angers customers. However, Microsoft is taking a stand against corporate pranks by telling its own employees not to indulge in any such behavior.

Three days ahead of April Fools’ Day, Microsoft’s marketing chief Chris Capossela sent an email to all employees warning them not to participate in the process of any public-facing, annoying jokes carried out on that day, reported The Verge.

“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,” Capossela wrote.

In the memo, Capossela explained that ‘data tells us these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles’, indirectly, these stunts can backfire themselves at the organization.

“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,” said Capossela.

In the past, many April Fools’ pranks have been backfired such as when Google was forced to apologize for adding ‘Despicable Me’ minions to emails and muting threads that caused havoc for Gmail users.