After a more than two-year-long pandemic that hasn’t technically finished yet and in the middle of a war in Europe that’s also unlikely to come to a conclusion very soon, T-Mobile seems to think the world (or at least America) is in a good enough place to welcome back April Fools’ pranks.
Of course, it’s not April 1 yet, so if you want to get specific, what we’re looking at here is a (mildly) amusing March 31 joke taken (as always) incredibly seriously by the nation’s leading “Un-carrier.”
Following a two-year hiatus during which Magenta promoted various charitable foundations and nonprofit organizations under a new #GiveThanksNotPranks banner, the continuously growing wireless service provider is going back to its old shenanigans with a “major brand refresh.”
Obviously, the T-Mobile name isn’t going anywhere, but the “iconic” magenta hue is being replaced with a “revolutionary new color fit for the leader in 5G.” Unsurprisingly dubbed “New Magenta”, this was “born at the intersection of art and science”, resulting from “thousands of hours of research and development” and “hundreds of focus group studies.”
In reality, T-Mo’s signature color is not changing one bit, but if you want to play along with the carrier’s insanely elaborated April Fools’ prank this year, you can buy a $14 t-shirt or $26 hoodie showcasing the difference between “New Magenta” and “Original Magenta” while supplies last.
Then again, if you ask us, those two jokes were a lot funnier than this latest one, mocking wearable industry trends and concepts rather than… pretentious artists and art critics?! Still, you have to appreciate the effort of putting together not just a press release and a dedicated section on the official T-Mobile website, but a two-minute YouTube video (embedded above) and a pretty hilarious “retinal calibration guide” as well.
