Every year, brands, companies, news outlets and PR professionals fight to claim the title of most innovative and convincing April Fools’ Day prank.

• What happens when an IKEA painting is displayed in an art museum?
• Video: Karl Stefanovic pranks brother Peter
• John Howard: The Movie

While fact is often stranger than fiction, these news stories caught our eye as being a little bit too farfetched.

Australian Sex Party merges with Shooters and Fishers Party to become ‘The Sex Pistols’

Jacqui Lambie take note, this is how you name a political party.

Leader of the Sex Party, Victorian MP Fiona Patten, put out a release saying after a “long period of negotiation” the two parties have agreed to merge in a move that would see ‘The Sex Pistols’ control the balance of power in the Victorian Upper House.

“This is an awesome move for both our parties – and everyone who loves guns and sex, although we don’t recommend using them together,” Ms Patten said.

That’s the spirit of Australia.

Whoops.

QANTAS to become QUANTAS

Well done to the Flying Kangaroo for photoshopping a ‘U’ into their name. Millions of children all over the world will now need to re-learn the phrase: ‘U after Q except in Qantas.’

Giant Vegemite museum coming to Port Melbourne

This one was convincing enough for pop culture site Pedestrian.tv to fall for it.

Apparently, Australia’s most iconic breakfast spread will now be worshipped in a brand new museum, complete with interactive exhibits so visitors can explore the spread’s production, history, distribution and advertising.

The giveaway? The museum is shaped like a really, really big jar of Vegemite.

Flight Centre offering ‘cargo class’ for the thrifty traveller

Flight Centre’s new deal is a backpacker’s paradise.

Flight Centre announced return fares to London for $199 in the new ‘cargo class’, which allows travellers to buy a flat bed in an aircraft’s cargo container.

Targeted at people looking a for a trip that’s off the beaten track, Flight Centre said the pressurised cargo hold is a “unique and private way to travel for those looking for something a little different at a bargain price”.

Woolworths announcing the Watermapple

Woolworths supermarket announced a 100 per cent natural hybrid watermelon and apple fruit, aptly called the ‘watermapple’.

According to their media release, there has been “growing customer demand for bite-sized healthy snacks” and this five-year development is the answer to those prayers.

The watermapple follows other successful fruit launches (who knew fruit was a thing that was ‘launched’?) such as grapples, pineberries and tangelos.

Google Maps ruins your productivity with Pac-Man

For office workers, April 1 may as well have been declared a public holiday for all the work that could get done while Google Maps had been converted into Pac-Man for a day.

Google, everyone’s favourite search engine (sorry Bing) has always oozed fun and this year they shared the love a bit by turning Maps into the much-loved arcade game.

Good luck getting any work done today.

Because nothing says legitimate media stunt quite like a man rolling in a giant ball.

Virgin Mobile attempting to break the ‘rolling’ world record

Virgin Mobile said they were celebrating their data rollover product offering by getting “fitness guru and all around good guy, Tim Robards’ to roll 900km from Sydney to Melbourne in a zorb ball”.

Yeah, right.

Australia Post to allow customers to mail themselves to destinations

Confession time: our very own piece about Australia Post’s new AirMale and AirFemale program was an April Fools’ prank of the highest order.

Perplexed and/or bemused customers (who must have forgotten the date) were apparently contacting the company to enquire about the service.

NSW police force has some new recruits

NSW residents may have noticed how savvy their police force is on Twitter and Facebook and it was unlikely these men and women in blue were going to let an opportunity like April Fools’ Day stop them from sharing a joke.

We look forward to these new additions to the Mounted Unit.

New recruits to give the Mounted Unit the hump: https://t.co/vXQms5WadT pic.twitter.com/9Be7eECXLM

— NSW Police (@nswpolice) March 31, 2015

Brisbane to dump the Olympics and aim for Eurovision

We sort of wish this one was real: according to the Brisbane Times, the sunshine state had its heart set on hosting Eurovision and was apparently conducting “high level talks” for Brisbane to host the inaugural event “at a fraction of the price of an Olympic 2028 bid”. The article cites German Chancellor Angela Merkel as an “enthusiastic” supporter of the bid and says that Brisbane will be competing against Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, Beijing, Chittagong and Doha for the right to host the event.

Check out the look the cat is giving that fish tank.

Sea Life launches aquarium for cats

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium announced the first ever “cat aquarium” and “kitty snorkel” experience for felines that love fish. According to their cat specialist, “seeing fish swim stimulates cats and can send them into a euphoric trance”. The most intriguing part of this whole gimmick has to be the picture of cat giving devil eyes to the fish in the tank.

‘Munchie Matchmaker’ combines Tinder with your love of food

This prank isn’t a terrible idea. EatNow announced the release of a new app that combines the ideas of Tinder and Match.com to unite singles over their love of similar foods. Born from the idea that first dates can be awkward enough without the pressure of deciding where to eat, the app facilitates singles to bond over their mutual love of Hawaiian pizzas or Indian curries.

John West Tuna to release ‘tunacles’

John West Tuna doesn’t need a big song and dance to tell the world about their latest product, tuna flavoured icy poles. While we can’t think of any product more revolting than a tuna ice block, we’re sure someone, somewhere would enjoy it. A short and snappy Facebook post from the John West team announced the arrival of the “refreshing treat for cubs and grown-ups alike!”

The 2015 cocoa crisis

You’ve got appreciate the fact that finder.com.au managed to make their April Fools’ Day joke topical with an Easter angle. According to their news alert, this weekend could be the last Easter, with a global shortage in cocoa beans meaning chocolate supplies will ‘run dry by the end of 2015’. They’re blaming globalisation and the rise of the middle class in China and India for this truly horrible situation and even have some really thorough infographics to tell readers about what is causing the ‘2015 Chocolate Crisis.’ The key message from the article: stock up.

ASOS Australia’s ‘clip-on man-buns’

You can’t say ASOS don’t know their audience. With beards and man-buns on the rise, we all know a few faux-hipsters who would like to skip the hair-growing stage and buy a clip-on bun.

The game changer: clip-On Man-Buns, coming soon. pic.twitter.com/rgBSJPCKHM — ASOS Australia (@ASOS_Au) March 31, 2015

Strap some wings on, and you’re off.

Bicycle lane on Mount Gambier Airport’s runway

The good-timers at Mount Gambier Airport surprised passengers with their commitment to the greener form of travel.

“Due to their ever increasing popularity, bicycle lanes have been installed on one of the runways at Mount Gambier Airport,” the airport’s Facebook page said.

“In what is thought to be an airport first, a six month trial has been established to monitor the popularity of these lanes and if the trial proves successful the airport has committed to putting them on all three runways.”