The April Fools prank that can't be admitted to?

@dave and I were messaging this morning about Groupon's frequency of emailing in contrast to commentary that they were "moving from your inbox to your browser search results" -- a move I do believe they intend, but is premature to conclude based on my inbox:

He asked if I'd seen that Elite category of deals they'd announced a few days ago and I remarked that I had (it reminded us of a "1337 / Leet" site we once thought of). I remembered seeing that the market had reacted favorably to it, and I figured it was in line with various selection moves I expect as they expand their offerings. We pulled up the site to review it:

http://www.groupon.com/deals/groupon-elite

A few minutes into our discussion, dave comments that a particular joke in the write up reads more like an April Fools gag than an actual sale. “people are still buying vests at the store when it's not that hard to sew your own” he pastes over to me. He's making the switch to read this as a full gag while I'm imagining that he's been sucked in by a writer slipping something clever in.

We discuss that there is absolutely no reaction to this as a gag. In fact, various Wall Street coverage I'd read was that the stock went up on this exact announcement.

Then I went back to the deal and read the name. "Joyce Lancastershire, Groupon's Chief of Luxury". Oh shit, Dave is right, this whole thing is a joke. That I only read about it from stock news has thrown me far off.

A minute later, Dave types "Ah wow, yeah, I even misread the actual deal here. You pay $40 and get $20 of credit." Indeed. How could I miss this - In fact I had specifically turned it around in my brain to take enjoyment of the "inception" coupon element I though it was (a groupon for a future groupon).

Is the prank stupid because it's right in line with what I expected or sublime in that I was completely fooled? I think I have to take the former position. Particularly since Groupon itself has done this gag far better, back in the more glorious Andrew Mason days. (I can't believe he's pretending to be so lame these days, but that's another topic).

I searched around a bit more and I find one guy on the Yahoo stock boards shouting about this being a joke.

So this isn't that interesting a gag.. certainly not worth enjoying on it's own. I haven't searched through the news coverage to see exactly how seriously any real analysts took it, but just the insinuation that it increased their stock value seems like an interesting predicament. Obviously that would imply stock purchases based on this information?

I guess from here they move on and hope no one notices. Maybe next year they can shut this division down on April 1st?