This April 1, 2021, will be remembered for having the most egregious automotive April Fools jokes. Don’t even get me started on “Voltswagen”, I don’t think I have enough energy to rant about it. However, in a refreshingly self-aware April Fools ad, BMW actually poked some fun at itself and it’s probably the best April Fools gag we’ve seen from an automaker in a long time.
On Instagram, BMW posted a short video clip about sustainability and how it must eliminate superfluous manufacturing methods, to insure a more environmentally friendly future. However, what BMW ends up “eliminating” genuinely made me chuckle.
The video starts off by referencing Apple, which recently removed the charging brick from the iPhone packaging. Apple claimed this was to lessen the environmental impact of shipping more plastic charging bricks. So BMW decided to follow suit and remove underutilized features from its cars. Which feature did BMW feel was the most underutilized in its vehicles? Turn signals.
BMW claimed that, starting in 2022, it would stop manufacturing cars with turn signals because its customers don’t use them anyway. So why bother manufacturing them, right? For ages, the common joke about BMW drivers was that they never used their turn signals, creating nearly endless memes. So this self-aware April Fools joke from BMW lands. The deadpan tone of voice from the narrator of this ad is also what genuinely sells this joke, as BMW pokes fun at its own customers and its own brand image.
Props to BMW for mocking itself a bit, which is really refreshing after the latest criticism of the brand and how it handled some of the social media posts.
