Under The Counter loves April Fool’s Day. Not because of the japery but because he enjoys spotting all the outrageous stories.
In this age of dumbing down, however, his task is made easier by scribblers who do everything but tack April Fool disclaimers to spoof stories – perhaps to distinguish them from the real fake news.
And so, on 1 April, the Auld Boy wasn’t taken in by news that coconut rum brand Malibu had teamed up with Irn-Bru to launch cans of Mali-Bru on a gullible world.
He almost wished it was true, for it was a belter of a ruse which must have involved a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing between Pernod Ricard and Barr Soft Drinks. ‘Stockists’ Morrisons and hospitality operator The Scotsman Group were also in on the wheeze.
But the story shows that, as Mark Twain said, there’s no such thing as a new idea.
Painstaking research by UTC (typing ‘Malibru’ into Google) revealed the drink first reared its coconutty head in 2010. Not on 1 April though, but on 1 January – when a recipe was uploaded to the makemeacocktail.com website.
The significance of the date was not lost on the Auld Boy, who was probably right in thinking Malibru was created by desperate Hogmanay revellers who had otherwise drunk the party dry.
Vodka and diluting juice anyone?
