Norwegian media and brands embrace April Fools’ Day with creative pranks

Several Norwegian institutions, companies, and media outlets marked April Fools’ Day on Wednesday with elaborate hoaxes—many leveraging social media and AI-generated imagery—according to reports by NTB.

One of the most widely shared stunts came from budget airline Norwegian, which announced a new “Single Seats” service. For 69 kroner, solo travellers could book a seat next to another single passenger, with the tagline “Love is in the air”. Magnus Thome Maursund, the airline’s commercial director, framed it as a “more direct” way to connect people, building on Norwegian’s two-decade history of “bringing people together.”

Other notable pranks included Rælingen municipality declaring it would distribute 1,000 mosquito breeding sites across public spaces and private gardens to “ensure a sustainable mosquito population”. Residents hosting breeding sites in their gardens would receive three bottles of insect repellent as compensation, according to a fictional project leader named Ulf Stikkestad.

Trøndelag police district claimed it would replace half its patrol cars with electric scooters equipped with blue lights and sirens, citing climate benefits. The scooters, capped at 35 km/h, would require officers to “rely on public charging stops” for longer journeys. The local fire service joined in, unveiling a new siren mimicking seagull cries—“the sound that moves Trøndelag residents fastest”.

Language advocacy group Noregs Mållag demanded that 50 percent of russelåter—graduation celebration songs—be performed in Nynorsk, arguing that if students sing about “drinking, questionable sexual culture, and outdated gender roles,” they should “do it in Nynorsk too”.

The Oslo Ski Association announced a ban on “destructive plowing” downhill from Kikut, a popular slope near the capital, threatening fines for offenders next season. Meanwhile, agricultural cooperative Felleskjøpet Agri launched “John Dear”, a dating app for farmers with filters for machinery inventory, livestock counts, and geography to “find someone who truly fits the farm”.

Even the Home Front Museum in Oslo participated, offering vintage “binders” (cloth armbands used as resistance symbols during WWII) for 40 kroner each in its gift shop. Visitors quoting “samhold og sluttede rekker” (“unity and closed ranks”) received a 10-kroner discount. Museum director Mats Tangestuen later clarified the stunt was meant to highlight how such symbols “were weapons in the ‘attitude struggle’ alongside machine guns and grenades” in the resistance movement.

Not all pranks were immediately recognised: Bergen newspaper BT briefly published a story claiming salmon tycoon Gerhard Meidell would fund a 500-million-kroner swimming pool on Stord island, only to retract it after realising the press release was a hoax. “It’s hard to guard against deception when official spokespeople deliberately mislead the media,” the paper acknowledged.