I find Google's oddball logo changes to be annoying. Not the logos themselves, but the dates that they choose to have a special logo. Or not, as the case may be.
05/29/08 (today), Anniversary of first ascent of Mount Everest
05/18/08, 125th birthday of Walter Gropius, German architect who founded the boring and sterile Bauhaus movement in architecture
05/16/08, Anniversary of the invention of the laser (I like this one)
04/22/08, Earth Day (not coincidentally, also the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, one of the founders of the Soviet Union)
02/29/08, Leap Year
01/28/08, 50th anniversary of the Lego brick
But where was the Google logo for Memorial Day (May 26th, this year)? Nowhere. Just the plain old Google logo.
I realize that Google's staff is overwhelmingly liberal, and that their donations to political causes also skew that way. Liberals also complain that they don't like to be stereotyped as "not supporting the troops" or being "unpatriotic."
I think if Google doesn't want to earn a stereotype of being unpatriotic, they had better take a few seconds next year to scribble out some sort of logo honoring Memorial Day. They have a whole staff of graphic designers. Let an intern do it. Let a Google user do it for free.
A contest was held to do Google's job for them, and they came up with some very nice logos.
Heck, even Yahoo understands that you need to show some respect.
Others are also questioning Google's poor judgment.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-doesnt-google-honor-memorial-day-in-the-us/6967/
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/017225.html
http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2008/05/googles-treatment-of-memorial-day-is.php
In years past, Google has offered the following bullshit excuse:
We understand your interest in seeing a Memorial Day Google logo. If we were to commemorate this holiday, we'd want to express reverence; however, as Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature, this would be a particularly challenging design.
We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way.
We have a long list of holidays that we'd like to celebrate in the future. We have to balance this rotating calendar with the need to maintain the consistency of the Google homepage. We really appreciate your feedback regarding the Google logo, and please be assured that we're actively pursuing ways in which we can acknowledge Memorial Day and other such occasions in the future.
Regards,The Google Team
I think that's a load of crap. And I think that it's pretty clear that Google is unpatriotic, and doesn't believe in the very country that gave Google its life. It's unfortunate.
And if this blog is suddenly deleted in the next few days, we'll know that Google's liberal views don't extend to criticism of its policies. ;-)
7 comments:
There are some really awesome logo options there!
I hope they change their perspective for next year.
I am not holding my breath though. Blue isn't a good color for me.
Interesting observation. Could it be because Memorial Days are celebrated on different days in different countries? I can't remember if Google Canada did something for Rembrance Day or not, but I'll be sure to be taking note in November.
Oh so very ethnocentric - as if the USA is the only country on earth and the only country that Google serves. I like Drowsey Monkeys observation.
Notice that they don't do religious holidays either.Like Yom Kippur.
They do, however, do veterans day and independence day - or is that just not patriotic enough for you?
Remember also when Google went black to signify "turning out the lights" which of course saved no electricity whatsoever.
While I understand the concern to not offend anyone- as there is always SOMEONE offended by stupid shit- that is a lame-ass excuse. Considering how many soldiers we've lost in this f&%$ing war, Memorial Day is extremely significant and deserves to be acknowledged. Yahoo! did it without problem... Shame on Google.
And some of those logos from the contest were amazing!
Lara: Yes, red is better. ;-)
Drowsey: I'm not sure if google.ca does stuff or not. I saw a medallion icon on google.it today, but I'm not sure what Italian holiday it is.
Daisy: Thank you so much for visiting! Yes, Google has sites for other countries, like google.ca, google.it, google.jp, and so on. I'm fairly certain that they have holiday logos for their countries, so it makes sense that they would do so for ours. I just think it's silly to only have logos for "happy" holidays like the Fourth of July. Memorial Day is a solemn day, but no less worthy of remembrance than a "happy" day. Perhaps more worthy, if anything, in light of the sacrifices of America's brave soldiers.
Lorelei: Good point, exactly. Google doesn't really think it through, often.
Corrina: I agree, some of those logos in the contest were REALLY cool. I really liked the Vietnam Memorial-styled logo, all black with gray names.
Thank you all for reading!
With all respect Marvin, but aren't we suppose to support thr troops when they come back home and find that they don't have health insurance and to find that the US army is not helping them get decent jobs in the community especialy if they are badly injured in Iraq. I believe to support the troops, is to support them to get out of Iraq since they are there for no justifiable reason.
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