Numerous in the industry reassessed April Fools’ Day pranks in 2020 as pressure from the arising COVID-19 pandemic was high, Google included. Presently, for the second year in a row, Google is skipping April Fools’ Day 2021.
An internal memo sent by Google’s VP of global marketing, Marvin Chow, clarifies that the organization will proceed with its “pause” of April Fools’ Day tricks in 2021 as “much of the world” is still dealing with “serious challenges” during the pandemic. The message, gotten by Business Insider, peruses:
Throughout the past year, I have been so inspired by how helpful our products, programs and people have been during humanity’s toughest times. We’ve done it with sensitivity and empathy, reflecting the range of challenging experiences so many are experiencing globally.
As you will remember, last year we made the decision to pause our longstanding Google tradition of celebrating April Fools’ Day, out of respect for all those fighting COVID-19. With much of the world still grappling with serious challenges, we feel we should again pause the jokes for April Fools’ Day this year. Like we did last year, we should continue to find appropriate ways to bring moments of joy to our users throughout the year (e.g. Doodles, easter eggs, etc.)
Google has affirmed that the message is genuine.
Eminently, they accepted we had spotted one of the organization’s potential pranks in Stadia recently. The trick would have prodded the game-streaming platform’s ability to stream games on 56K internet connections. Google has affirmed to us soon after distribution that Stadia won’t feature any April Fools gags this year.
