Home topics news Marketing News Marketing The four best April Fools pranks of 2012 Michelle Sammut April 2, 2012 This year April Fools was tucked away at the weekend, but the unfortunate timing hasn’t stopped some savvy businesses from making a statement and generating some added publicity . Here are the best four April Fools jokes businesses pulled this year: 1. The IKEA allen key fool IKEA alerted customers to a fake product recall yesterday, saying it had sold some the incorrect left-handed allen keys between 01/01/12 and 31/03/12. “To exchange your incorrect key, we’ve provided a swap box at the store entrance today, April 1,” IKEA said in the ad, published online and in newspapers. 2. The 8-bit Google Map Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) fool Google announced its 8-bit Google Map yesterday, which it said combines Nintendo with traditional Google maps and takes users on a quest to locations. “With Google Maps 8-bit, you can do all the things you already do on regular Google Maps. Search for famous landmarks and sites around the world. Take an epic journey with 8-bit Street View. Get detailed directions to avoid dangerous paths, and battle your way through a world of powerful monsters and mystic treasures,” Google Maps software engineer Tatsuo Nomura said. Google users were warned their system may not meet the requirements of the 8-bit computations, but Google said the maps would be in “Google stores” soon. 3. The Google Street Roo fool Google also introduced Google Street Roo ,