TODAY is April Fools’ Day but the day designated for joke news items and other hoaxes has been overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak.
Google has decided to cancel its tradition of marking the day with a spoof news item or fake product announcement out of respect for victims of COVID-19 according to a leaked internal email.
Historically, Google used to mark the occasion with elaborate pranks and Easter eggs.
Now, with people relying on Google for information about the coronavirus pandemic, this is not not the time for jokes.
According to a business insider report, Lorraine Twohill, Google’s head of marketing,in a memo stated
“Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so let’s save the jokes for next April, which will undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one. We’ve already stopped any centralized April Fool’s efforts but realize there may be smaller projects within teams that we don’t know about. Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned — internally or externally.”
It would not be ill advised for the entire web to follow Google’s lead on this front.
Attempting to pull off an April Fools’ joke in the midst of a global pandemic is not the best way for any brand to represent themselves.
What would have been considered in good taste just months ago may rub people the wrong way today.
