Image copyright YouTube/BMW NZ Image caption No fool: Tianna Marsh was handed the car after responding to a newspaper advert
A woman in New Zealand has won a luxury car after taking an apparent April Fool's joke at face value.
It began with a car dealership's front-page advert in the New Zealand Herald newspaper. Titled "April Fool's Day special", it promised a brand new BMW to the first person who turned up to the showroom with their own car and the advert in hand. While many people likely suspected the advert was just another 1 April prank, one woman took the company at its word. Tianna Marsh drove her 15-year-old station wagon along to the dealership in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket at 05:30 local time, sales manager Gavin Penfold tells the paper, and was promptly rewarded with her new set of wheels. The car's number plate reads "NOF00L" and it's worth nearly NZ$50,000 (US$37,000; £25,000).
The advert "definitely appeared too good to be true", says BMW spokesman Ed Finn. "We wanted to turn the tables and reward the first person who was willing to take the chance." Ms Marsh's old car will be sold off to raise funds for a charity which helps disabled children, he tells the paper. A video of the whole event, uploaded to the company's YouTube channel, ends with the message: "Happy April Not Such a Fool".
Image copyright YouTube/BMW NZ Image caption The advert appeared on the New Zealand Herald's front page on 1 April
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jdscarface on April 8th, 2017 at 14:45 UTC »
>The advert "definitely appeared too good to be true", says BMW spokesman Ed Finn. "We wanted to turn the tables and reward the first person who was willing to take the chance." Smart advertising plan. Someone was bound to show up and give it a chance, and they did, so bam. Instant fantastic PR for the price of 1 car giveaway and whatever it cost to rent the newspaper ad. Much cheaper than any traditional marketing campaign. And it's still happening since we're posting the story and still talking about it.
zodar on April 8th, 2017 at 14:41 UTC »
> no one came > a lady came
LurkmasterGeneral on April 8th, 2017 at 14:30 UTC »
To be clear, the article only states many people likely thought it was a prank, not that nobody showed up. Since she got there at 5:30am, there were likely many more people who arrived after her.