A controversial entrepreneur is under fire for an April Fools' joke.
By Susan Edmunds for RNZ
Toby Thomas-Smith, founder of subletting platform Kiki, posted on LinkedIn on April Fools' Day that he had made the "hardest decision of my life" to shut down Kiki Club in London. The post noted that it was not an April Fools' joke.
But it was later followed by another that said it actually was a joke.
Both have since been deleted.
The business launched as EasyRent in New Zealand.
Kiki has also previously opened, and closed, in Sydney and New York. It controversially rebranded as a "girls-only" social club in New York in 2024.
Phil Thomson, chief executive at Auror, posted on LinkedIn that the stunt exploited the goodwill of a community that "showed up for founders in their hardest moments" and belittled those who did have to shut down companies.
A number of New Zealand businesspeople responded, agreeing with him and expressing displeasure.
Lou O'Reilly, of PR firm Draper Cormack, said the post was in bad taste.
"He won't be the first founder to learn that attention and trust are not the same thing, and he definitely won't be the last. A genuine apology can usually fix a fair bit, and this one is definitely better than the original rollout, but when people feel like you've really misread the room, you don't just get to reset because you've explained yourself better the second time around. He'll need to earn some of that trust back."
Marketing expert Bodo Lang, at Massey University, said for humour to be effective in marketing, it needed to be clearly signalled.
"The message by the Kiki Club owner fails this first condition, particularly it explicitly states that is it not a April Fools' joke. Second, the humour needs to be aligned with the brand's personality…Kiki Club had to recently settle out of court in a case after admitting to breaking the New York's short-term rental laws. Using humour after sustaining financial and reputational damage is not a wise move.
"Lastly, but most importantly, the humour should be low in perceived consequences. Unfortunately, making a joke about the company's viability is extremely high in perceived consequences. Financial backers would be extremely worried and customers as well as fans of the brand would also be asking themselves if using the platform is sensible."
He said humour online could be dangerous.
"Digital platforms fundamentally change how humour is received by the audience. First, consumers encounter posts hours or days later, outside the April 1 context. The 'joke frame' may be lost.
Second, content may be shown to people who may not follow the brand closely and lack contextual knowledge.
Third, posts are reshared, screenshotted, or seen in isolation, so often without clarifications or comments. Lastly, online content can have a long half-life, so messages can continue circulating well beyond the date when they were posted."
"In today's online environment, where context is easily lost, brands need to be especially cautious. One rule of thumb is: If the joke could plausibly be believed, and would matter if it were true, it is probably not worth the risk."
In 2018, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla has gone "completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt you can't believe it." It was not well received by some investors, coming days after a downgrade in the company's credit rating.
Last year, a marketing stunt claiming Lynx Africa was being discontinued was described as an early April Fools' prank, as was the announcement that Lipton was to stop production of peach iced tea.
Consumer NZ spokesperson Abby Damen said the Fair Trading Act (FTA) made it illegal for businesses to mislead consumers, give false information and make misrepresentations, including in advertising.
Kiki Club has been approached for comment.
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