There’s a difference between a dumb April Fools’ Day joke that isn’t funny or doesn’t trick anyone, and an April Fools’ Day joke that makes people angry and results in a $517 billion company having to apologize.
Only hours into its 2016 April Fools’ fun, Google had to pull the plug on its latest goof: A “Mic Drop & Send” button on Gmail accounts.
If pressed, this button inserted an animation of a Minion (from the Despicable Me movies) dropping a microphone on the conversation. More importantly — and annoyingly — it muted any replies to that email.
“Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it,” Google said in a blog post Thursday unveiling the joke button.
The functional button seemed like a fun way to seemingly assert your superiority in a discussion, but it turned out to cause just a few problems for Gmail users.
Not everyone noticed the new feature, which was placed on an orange button next to the normal “Send” button. Thus, Gmail users around the world were inadvertently dropping the mic on bosses, professors, loved ones, potential employers, and many others.
Users expressed their concern and dissatisfaction that the button was actually functional on Google’s product forum starting soon after the joke hit the web.
“I just completed [a] questionnaire via e-mail for a JOB and accidentally hit the send + mic drop button!!! GOOGLE I WANT THIS FEATURE TURNED OFF!!” one Gmail user wrote.
“This is stupid and has no business on an email. It should be optional,” another user said.
Google responded to the outcry, disabling the feature and apologizing any trouble caused by the prank.
Still, some people were sad to see the annual April Fools’ joke end so soon.
[via CNET]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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