Betabeat is inclined to lump hardy-har April Fool’s Day humor in with Dad jokes. It’s sweet you tried, but we’ll keep our sullen face on all the same. Tech companies in particular seem to attack the holiday with all the corporate-sanctioned zeal of a marketer at SXSW. As esteemed president Adrianne Jeffries put it, “I feel like it was a gift that it was on Sunday so we can just ignore it.”
But Warby Parker’s seasonal prank turned our head for one reason: puppies in glasses–a genre in which we have some personal experience. Why try to be funny when you can just give the Internet what they really want? Anthropomorphized fur-balls. Thus with help from photographer Noel Camardo and videographer is Kenie Huber, the New York-based online eyeglass purveyor redirected visitors to Warby Barker where the company offered up doggy monocles and “chew-resistant” eyewear in colors like dusty bacon and gravy burst–complimentary gluten-free dog treat with purchase.
The irony here, as one tipster pointed out, is that Classic Specs, a Warby Parker rival, used an image of a dog with glasses in its recent open letter accusing Warby Parker of trash-talking its brand to potential investors. “Our sales keep growing because we have a great product that people love (and that we hand deliver if you’re nearby) and because we have a very attractive dog as a mascot,” wrote Classic Specs cofounder Andrew Lipovsky.
The real yuks will be on all of us when “dogocles” raises $1 million seed round. Memo to all those startup mashup generators: “It’s like Warby Parker meets Birchbox, but for dogs,” is already taken.
