I’m in public relations and, as tempted as I might be, I would think five or six times before going ahead with an April Fool’s prank. The item below, listed as number 75 on the Museum of Hoax’s Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes list was this ill-conceived bit from a PR twit at one of my favorite places, the Franklin Institute:
On March 31, 1940 the Franklin Institute issued a press release stating that the world would end the next day. The release was picked up by radio station KYW which broadcast the following message: “Your worst fears that the world will end are confirmed by astronomers of Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. Scientists predict that the world will end at 3 P.M. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow. This is no April Fool joke. Confirmation can be obtained from Wagner Schlesinger, director of the Fels Planetarium of this city.” The public reaction was immediate. Local authorities were flooded with frantic phone calls. The panic only subsided after the Franklin Institute assured people that it had made no such prediction. The prankster responsible for the press release turned out to be William Castellini, the Institute’s press agent. He had intended to use the fake release to publicize an April 1st lecture at the institute titled “How Will the World End?” Soon afterwards, the Institute dismissed Castellini.
Italics are mine. And a big “DUH” to Mr. Castellini.