Emily Farr | @EmilyLFarr

It’s April Fools’ Day once again, a day that many people dread for fear of being the victim of a prank, or anticipate in the hopes of pranking others. Of course, these days the pranks are almost inescapable because they are no longer limited to friends and co-workers anymore. Some of the biggest and most beloved brands, including social media, take great joy in fooling their audiences year after year. Here are just a few of the best brands' April Fools’ Day pranks and jokes.

Google

In recent years, Google seems to be the brand to beat when it comes to April Fools’ Day. Last year’s Google Nose Beta, which seemingly brought the power behind the thought of “smell-o-vision” to life through its search-by-smell feature, had some of us really believing that Google accomplished what was just mere science fiction for the past 50 years. Other hijinks from last year, like Google Maps Treasure Mode, also led us to believe that we were aiding Google in a search for buried treasure after they found a treasure map in 2012. Needless to say, Google is a firm believer in the April Fools’ Day prank.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-P6jEMtixY[/youtube]

YouTube

In 2013 YouTube’s prank threw us all for a loop when they announced via video that they were shutting down after choosing a “winner” out of all the videos that had been uploaded to YouTube…ever. They would then return 10 years later with the only video featured being the winner’s. Though the video announcement did seem real, there were certain clues within the video such as Antoine Dodson, who rocketed to YouTube fame in 2010, being one of the judges for the video contest, showing that the joke was on us. Take a look at the video prank below.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H542nLTTbu0[/youtube]

HBO

After the shock of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones’ season finale "Red Wedding," many thought they would be immune to such surprises by the TV titan in the foreseeable future. However, HBO took us by surprise yet again when they released a statement claiming that Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister in the show, would not be returning for the fourth season of Game of Thrones. Of course, many realized the statement just so happened to fall on the one day a year when such outlandish statements might not be true.

ModCloth

Last year ModCloth’s April Fools’ joke celebrated social media by poking fun at some of Instagram’s more dedicated and obsessed users. This ironic video portrays a ModCloth employee who claims that “the world isn’t cute on its own, we have to create the cute.” You then see just how Instagram-obsessed she is through her daily life after trying to take photos of everything from food to dogs in the office. Though the video is a parody it seems ironically accurate of today’s society and equally just as entertaining.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAivy812GnU[/youtube]

Nike

With the release of the Nike Air tennis shoes, Nike thought it would also be great to release a video showing just what the secret is behind the success of Nike Air. Though this Nike prank comes from April Fools’ Day 2010, it still merits a laugh and maybe even a shudder as Nike reveals to us that the air in the Nike Air shoe is actually collected from professional athletes, such as tennis star Maria Sharapova. Though it’s clear that this is a joke, it is funny to entertain the thought that athletes are at a hidden warehouse providing canisters of their athletic CO? to magically help those of us who are less athletic.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxAz9lKvclc[/youtube]

Happy April Fools’ Day!