An April Fool's Joke to Remember

The media has pulled plenty of memorable pranks on April Fool's Day, but perhaps none was better than the "Taco Liberty Bell" advertisement in 1996.  The fast food chain placed advertisements in several leading newspapers announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." Thousands of people protested before Taco Bell announced that it was a hoax.

The prank was the brainchild of PainePR, a public relations firm.  The advertisements cost $300,000 but generated an estimated $25 million in publicity for Taco Bell. The White House even got in on the joke. The same day press secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that as part of its ongoing privatization efforts, "Ford Motor Co. is joining today in an effort to refurbish the Lincoln Memorial. It will be the Lincoln Mercury Memorial."