Advertisement

Updated March 31st, 2020 at 19:52 IST

Google scraps April Fools' Day plans this year amid coronavirus pandemic

The Google management encouraged the staff to refrain from jokes in an email amid the time of hardships when people were dealing with deaths and devastation.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Google
| Image:self
Advertisement

Google has reportedly announced that it is cancelling its 2020 April Fool's Day plans due to coronavirus pandemic in an email obtained by a news media outlet. It declared that there wouldn’t be any pranks in view of helping those battling with the crisis with accurate information, and paying tribute to the many lives lost to the COVID-19 disease. The management encouraged the staff to refrain from jokes in an email amid the time of hardships, as per the media report. 

A public relations expert at Google was quoted as saying that April Fool’s Day pranks might be viewed as insensitive in such challenging times when the health professionals were exhausted at their capacity. There were death and devastation from the novel coronavirus, he added. At the time, when the public was desperately looking for information on the virus, health, and wellbeing, any attempt at jokes can result in misleading people and damage the brand’s reputation, the PR expert reportedly said.

Read: Coronavirus: Plea In SC For Free Of Cost Testing Of COVID-19

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: US Reports 591 New Cases, Total Tally At 164,435

Popular "Google Tulip" from 2019

Last year, the company made at least four announcements to celebrate the occasion. It allowed the users online to play snake games on Google maps. The users had to hit the hamburger button provided on the top left of the app then choose play. The snake from different ethnicity—Cairo, London, Japan was made available on the Android and iOS for at least a week.

In another joke, Google introduced the file cleaner app that worked “geometric dirt models, combined with haptic micromovement pulses, to dislodge what’s stuck to your screen.” the most popular, however, was the Google tulip, in which the company tricked users to speak with the flower. It said that the tulip was a great listener and gave excellent advice. “Thanks to great advancements in artificial intelligence, Google Home is now able to understand tulips, allowing translation between Tulipish and dozens of human languages,” the Google wrote in a blog post, in an April fool’s stunt. 

Read: What Is Coronatracker.in? Websites And Apps To Track Coronavirus Cases In India

Read: Giant Eagle Hours & Special Senior Hours During Coronavirus Lockdown

Advertisement

Published March 31st, 2020 at 20:01 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

A case has been registered against former minister and BRS working president KTR in Hanmakonda
7 minutes ago
Ramban Accident
19 minutes ago
Bitcoin
21 minutes ago
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE
23 minutes ago
Faridabad Fire: Massive Blaze Engulfs Factory in Bhankri Village, Panic Grips Locality
33 minutes ago
Riyan Parag
33 minutes ago
Raw Mango
36 minutes ago
Byju's leadership dispute
38 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo