Nice April Fools’ Day Pranks Stew’s and Westbrook Lobster

Well, I guess it's no surprise that it's getting tougher to sniff out BS on social media, right? But, even though I realized that today is April Fools' Day, I still fell for two online pranks from a couple of local businesses this morning.

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I love Westbrook Lobster, I usually go to their Wallingford location, and as the name implies, Westbrook Lobster is a seafood restaurant. Well, Westbrook Lobster took to Instagram this morning and announced:

"In the coming weeks, both Westbrook lobster locations will be transitioning to Westbrook Burger & Beer Bar.

There are primarily two reasons for this change, and we will explain below.

First, owners Michael & Matthew Lariviere have always had a passion for burgers. They have traveled and tasted hundreds of burgers throughout Connecticut and across the country searching for the tastiest burgers. We feel that Connecticut is ready for an outstanding burger and craft beer concept.

Secondly, with the unsustainable continued rise in lobster and seafood cost, we feel we have no choice but to look in a new direction for our restaurants in order to succeed.

We are extremely excited about this opportunity and although this change may be bittersweet, we hope that you will continue this journey with us.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at april-fools@westbrooklobster.com."

Oh, you dirty dogs. You had me. I had almost hit send on a text to Mrs. Large. Nice job.

The other local April Fools' Day prank that got me was from the weekly "What's New at Stew's" e-mail from Stew Leonard's. Very sneaky Stew's. The preview of the e-mail is "Introducing Our New Cologne + 5 Day Sale". Stew Leonard's Cologne?

I had to see what the hell Stew Leonard's Cologne was described as, and sure enough, near the bottom of the e-mail, there was "Stew Leonard's Farm Fresh Cologne". 7 ounces for $99.99. Not only that, there is photos of a bottle of cologne, and right afterwards, there's an advertisement for "Stew Leonard's Farm Fresh Shaving Cream". I was kind of surprised, but, then again, Stew Leonard's just released their in-store music on streaming platforms, so, stranger things have happened.

Then I read the descriptions -

"Find your inner (barn) animal. Stew leonard's Farm Fresh cologne features a musky blend of our local farmer's barn coupled with the briny aroma of a Maine lobster boat and notes of freshly baked bagels"

and

"Made with our dairy-fresh heavy whipping cream, Stew leonard's Farm Fresh Shaving Cream guaranteed every rancher, fisherman, and farmer a close and comfortable shave. It is enriched with avocados sourced directly from Stew's produce department and our very own olive oil imported from Italy for added moisture."

Followed by "*Gotcha! Happy April Fool's Day!"

Damn, I wanted to see what that smelled like. Bravo Westbrook Lobster and Stew Leonard's, your marketing department deserve raises.