This year, it just happened that April Fools’ fell on the day the Colorado Springs Independent comes out. Here’s the front page of the latest edition, devoted to the story of plans for the country’s first cat park.
This morning, the Independent pushed the story out on social media.
“We did not know if we were going to fool people or entertain people, but it looks like it’s mostly the latter,” said News Editor Robert Meyerowitz, who hasn’t gotten any calls yet.
And the idea wasn’t that wacky, he said. Lately, cat cafes have opened in Colorado Springs and in other parts of the country, Meyerowitz said.
There’s even an owl bar in London. Seriously.
The story has clues that it’s a prank, including the last names of the sources, which mostly mean cat in other languages. Also, there’s a video and a rendering of the proposed cat park.
Still, staff didn’t know what to expect.
“What you want is the response, so any kind of response that indicates that people are reading the story, are clicking the link, that’s great.”
On Facebook, most readers got the joke, but a few were duped. Here are a few screenshots of those reactions from two posts. (By the way, Meyerowitz said that he doesn’t think the article made anyone angry. “It’s still better than silence. That’s the worst that happens.”)
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