Olympus Gave Out Free Cameras As Part Of April Fool’s Joke; No, Really There Were Free Cameras…

I got to hand it to Olympus on this one, this was a pretty good April Fools Day joke, even if they weren’t actually joking. Facebook fans of Olympus UK saw several posts made by the camera maker on April 1st, announcing they would be giving away three free cameras . All you had to do was show up to Picadilly Circus in London and look for Santa Claus and his elves. If you were one of the first three people to show up, sit on Santa’s knee and shout, “OM-D it’s Christmas!”, you would walk away with a free camera.

The first of the series of Facebook calls to action posted by Olympus just shared some simple (albeit silly instructions that had most people questioning it’s truthfulness.

About 3 hours later, they followed up with this teaser…

Of course, more skepticism kicked in, but some people who lived close by were willing to take the “risk” of being duped…

Now Who’s Laughing

For everyone who thought this was an elaborate April Fool’s day prank, the jokes on them. Santa and his helpers showed up at noon with a bag of gifts, which included an EM-5 Mark II and two Olympus Stylus TG-3 cameras. The first person to show up won the EM-5 Mark II, the second two each took home a tough camera, and the following 17 people also received gifts.

Well played, Olympus. Well played.

[ via Amateur Photographer ]