Comedy Network - April Fool's Day Poll

Toronto, ON - With April Fool's Day just around the corner, an Ipsos-Reid/Comedy Network poll shows that Canadians universally (99%) agree that laughing is "good for your health", including a whopping 95% who say they "strongly agree". This comes as two thirds (64%) of Canadians say that they are likely to play a practical joke on someone on April Fool's Day.

• Across the country, Albertans (74%) are the most likely to say they will play practical jokes while Ontarians (59%) are the least likely.
• The likelihood that you will play a practical joke decreases with age. Younger Canadians (75%) are more likely than middle aged (63%) and older (52%) Canadians to say they will play practical jokes.

Friends (36%), Spouses (32%) and Co-Workers (26%) are Main Targets for Pranks

As two-thirds of Canadians to gear up to play pranks, victims beware! Out of a list of four possible choices, the largest number of Canadians say they would be most likely to play a practical joke on their "friends" (36%) on April Fool's Day. It may also be a day of marital discord as "spouses" (32%) run a close second in popularity as targets for pranks. Meanwhile a quarter (26%) say their "co-workers" are their most likely target. Mr. Rogers might be happy to know that only 2% say their "neighbours" will be the target of their practical jokes, while 4% of Canadians are truly good neighbours, volunteering that they would not play any practical jokes.

• Younger (45%) and older (40%) Canadians are most likely to play pranks on their friends while middle aged Canadians (38%) are most likely to play pranks on their spouse.

Of six practical jokes tested, the largest number of Canadians (32%) think gluing someone's coffee cup to their desk or table would be the funniest followed by the classic prank of filling a sugar bowl with salt (18%). Following closely behind, 17% of Canadians think it would be funny to send a married woman roses with a card from 'Hernando' thanking her for a great night. Perhaps not surprisingly, men (21%) are more likely than women (13%) to find this funny and younger (22%) and middle aged (18%) Canadians are more likely than older Canadians (8%) to find this funny. Meanwhile, women (21%) are more likely than men (14%) to say that putting salt in the sugar bowl is the funniest of the bunch.

Pranks which Canadians find less funny include "rearranging the cupboards" (14%), "putting men's magazines in someone's bag where their spouse will find them" (6%) and the childhood prank of "putting dog droppings in a bag on someone's doorstep" (3%). One in ten (10%) were not amused by any of the proposed pranks.

Comedy Network Poll Shows 2.3 Million Canadians Say they Would Support "Urban Harmony Minister Thomas Fullry's" Proposed Name Tag Law and if Passed, 5.1 Million Would Wear their Name Tag

In the spirit of April Fool's, The Comedy Network and Ipsos-Reid played a lighthearted joke of their own by asking Canadians if they would support a new law introduced by "Thomas Fullry the Federal Minister for Urban Harmony" that encourages Canadians living in major cities to wear a name tag.

In all, approximately 2.3 million adult Canadians (10%) took the bait, saying that they would support the law and more than twice as many (5.1 million or 22% of the population) say that if the law is passed they would wear their name tag at least some of the time! This include approximately 1.2 million adult Canadians (5%) who say they would wear their tag "all the time".

• No region stands out as being particularly gullible but younger Canadians (14% support, 27% would wear tags) are more likely than middle aged (10% support, 21% would wear tags) and older (5% support, 19% would wear tags) Canadians to support the law and to wear their name tag.
• Similarly, women (26%) are more likely than men (18%) to say that if the law was passed that they would wear their name tag.

One in Five (20%) Believe that Extra Terrestrials Visit Earth on a "Regular Basis" and One in Ten (10%) Believe that NASA "Faked the Moon Landings"

Canadians also reveal their quirks with one in five (20%) who believe that extra terrestrials visit the earth on a "regular basis" and a similar number (19%) who say the Loch Ness Monster exists. Conspiracy theorists can take some comfort in knowing that one in ten (10%) Canadians believe that NASA "faked the moon landings" but Elvis fans might be disappointed to know that only 3% of Canadians think that Elvis Presley is still alive. Finally, Canadians do not seem to be overly superstitious with only 7% of Canadians who believe that "breaking a mirror brings you seven years of bad luck".

• Quйbecers are more likely than the rest of Canada to believe that Elvis is alive (8%) and that extra terrestrials visit the earth on a regular basis (28%).
• Women (21%) are slightly more likely than men (16%) to believe in the Loch Ness Monster.
• Middle aged Canadians (26%) are more likely than younger (20%) and older (15%) Canadians to say that extra terrestrials visit earth regularly.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Comedy Network poll conducted between March 20th and March 22nd, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual adult Canadian population according to the 1996 Census.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice- President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900