April Fools’ Day pranks with cash&candy on TikTok

According to the announcement on PR NewswiresStarting March 27, users can share a video of their shenanigans with the #SourPatchPrankFund and #Sweepstakes hashtags as a text overlay to enter the running.

125 lucky winners

Sour patch Kids stay with the consumers during the pandemic. They opened the first Sour patch Kids store in New York last August.  After a year so sour that even April Fools’ Day was cancelled, the SOUR PATCH KIDS brand is bringing mischievous fun back to its favorite holiday by rewarding fans with cash and sweet candy prizes for their pranks. Notorious for their love of pranking, the Kids are celebrating pranksters across America this year with a $25,000 “Sour Patch Prank Fund,” which will designate $1,000 randomly to 25 lucky participants along with free candy to 100 random fans who share their pranks on TikTok. Starting on April Fools’ Day, winners will be selected at random throughout the day with the final group of winners selected on April 2nd. Once the sweepstakes is over, all cash prize winners will receive SOUR PATCH KIDS candy to share with the person that they pranked.

To kick it all off, the SOUR PATCH KIDS brand is working with five well-known TikTok creators who have brought smiles to millions of faces by pranking their loved ones, helping to serve as guidance for what types of pranks should be submitted. including: @TheCrazyGorilla, @VirziTriplets, @SometimesMamaYells, @SantiAndMikay, and @TattedBoy92.

The Mondelez label is tying the concept back to its animated Kids mascots, who frequently mess with people in the brand’s advertising to emphasize its sour and sweet qualities.

Do’s and Don’ts

Social media prank videos can get out of hand as users ignore their personal safety and that of others to chase views and engagement. YouTube in 2019 introduced a policy in 2019 that banned “dangerous challenges and pranks.” TikTok has been embroiled in similar controversies due to viral challenges that involve discriminatory behavior and bullying.

Safety is always a top priority for the Kids, so while fans should have fun, all pranks need to be safe and respectful. For guidance, they put together Do’s and Don’ts rules to emphasize that all rude, unsafe, harmful, hateful, violence, threatful or bullying contents wil be disqualified automatically. Participants must be 18 or older to qualify for the rewards and secure consent from anyone that appears in their video. To be eligible to participate in the sweepstakes, participants must reside in any of the 50 states, D.C., or Puerto Rico.

Video-sharing contest

While the contest is age-gated, it could still be a means for Sour Patch to engage TikTok’s young, active user base. Sour Patch claims to be the most-followed snack brand on TikTok with more than 875k followers.

The app last year overtook YouTube as the most-used by teens and preteens in the U.S., according to a recent analysis by MMGuardian. The video-sharing platform has been adopted by nearly one-third (32%) of those cohorts, and commands an average of 105.1 minutes on its service per day among users, per MMGuardian. YouTube recently shot back by recently expanding its beta test of a TikTok-like app called Shorts to the U.S.