On April 1st, 1977 The Guardian published a seven page “special report” about San Serriffe, a small republic in the Indian Ocean. The report included detailed facts about the geography, culture and economy of this hitherto unknown land.
The newspaper received hundreds of requests from readers seeking further information. However, the island never existed and the report was one of the first April Fool’s Day hoaxes by a national newspaper in Britain.
San Serriffe probably didn’t fool any designers at the time as everything about the place referenced typographic terms.
San Serriffe probably didn’t fool any designers at the time as everything about the place referenced typographic terms.
The two main islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse looked like a semi-colon, the capital was Bodoni and the dictator’s name was General Pica!
The most impressive part was that major advertisers played along with the joke – Guinness, Texaco, Kodak and Vladivar Vodka all ran special advertisements, construction company Costain’s ad read “Costain is changing the face of San Serriffe” - geddit?. Read more about San Serriffe at Hoaxipedia
The most impressive part was that major advertisers played along with the joke – Guinness, Texaco, Kodak and Vladivar Vodka all ran special advertisements, construction company Costain’s ad read “Costain is changing the face of San Serriffe” - geddit?. Read more about San Serriffe at Hoaxipedia
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