Article Interfering Brassieres
Summary: An article warned women that their bras might be causing television interference.
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On April 1, 1982 the British Daily Mail published an article titled “Do not adjust your set—it could be your bra!” in which it claimed that 10,000 brassieres made by a local manufacturer had developed a serious problem. Apparently the support wire in the bras had been fashioned out of specially treated copper. This copper wire had originally been designed for use in fire alarms, but when it came into contact with nylon and body heat, it was producing static electricity. This static electricity, in turn, was then being emitted by thousands of unsuspecting women, causing interference with the reception of television signals throughout the country.
As the article put it, “Widespread television interference, which has brought complaints from viewers all over Britain in recent weeks, is being caused not by unusual atmospheric conditions, but by 10,000 ‘rogue’ bras.”
The Daily Mail advised women to conduct a simple test to determine if their bra was “rogue”: “After wearing the bra for at least half an hour, take it off and shake it a few inches above the TV.”
The paper displayed a picture of a model shaking her bra above a TV in order to show women how to perform the test.
Response
Hundreds of readers took the article seriously, not recognizing it as an April Fool’s Day joke.
Among the readers who were fooled was the chief engineer of British Telecom. According to later reports, upon reading the article he immediately called his office and asked that all his female employees be checked to see if their bras were interfering with any electronic equipment.
References
- “April, and Spring is in the air!” (April 1, 1986). Courier-Mail.
- “The British still love those April Fools jokes.” (April 1, 1982). United Press International.
- “Do not adjust your set—it could be your bra!” (April 1, 1982). Daily Mail.