Google April Fools’ Day Prank Goes Horribly Wrong
Google decided to give their users a little bit of a shock this April Fools’ Day. Gmail users who sent off emails this morning had a minion “mic drop” GIF inserted into the end of their emails, whether they wanted the little guy in there or not. For those of you who aren’t familiar, minions are the little creatures from Despicable Me. The most adequate description would be to say that they’re yellow, apparently always male, and perpetually screwing things up. But also wildly lovable.
Confirmed: Gmail killed Mic Drop, less than 30 minutes into April 1 on the West Coast. You’re welcome, Internet. pic.twitter.com/ijDtGI197Q
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) April 1, 2016
According to Yahoo News, the GIF was originally only meant to be inserted into emails when Google users hit “send and archive.” But a lot of people were complaining that there was a minion in their emails when they were only hitting “send.”
WHAT A HARMLESS APRIL FOOL’S JOKE, WHAT COULD GO WRONG pic.twitter.com/Maw8a6VUSA
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) April 1, 2016
The big problem, and probably the reason that Google finally cancelled the prank, is that a lot of people are saying that they actually lost their jobs.
Business Insider reported that one user, Abdus Salam, wrote a complaint, stating, “This mic drop is perhaps the most stupid thing you could possibly come up with. I have been interviewing with this company for 3 months now and mistakenly sent the email directly to guess who? The HR!”
On the Google product forums, a user named Alan Pashby had a similar complaint.
“Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job. I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the ‘Mic Drop’ send button. My boss took offense to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn’t reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this ‘hilarious’ prank.”
The Telegraph spoke to several people who had serious problems with Google’s prank.
One user wrote, “Words cannot describe how pissed off I am right now. I’m actually shaking. One click, ONE CLICK and I lost the job. Not funny, google. I’m going to go cry now”.
Hey @gmail, I think you guys just ruined my chances at getting a job with your mic drop "prank." My fat fingers hit the button.
— Billy Brannum (@irresistibilly) April 1, 2016
Crap. Did you know that @gmail has a "send and drop the mic" button for emails to never hear responses? Yeah I just used it for a job post
— Larry Barnes (@youthminister) April 1, 2016
I nearly sent email including Gmail’s stupid April Fool prank, so I’m glad to hear it’s causing them chaos and pain: https://t.co/QS0Dfa8C3n
— Pinboard (@Pinboard) April 1, 2016
As Nostradamus foretold, the gmail mic drop function will end us all
— Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) April 1, 2016
Google announced their idea on the Gmail blog with the statement, “[T]oday, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop.”
On their blog, they wrote that people had been testing the “mic drop” feature for months and had positive things to say about it, including, “My team solves problems so much faster with Mic Drop. In fact, we stopped talking to each other entirely!” and “Sending email is so much easier when you don’t have to worry about people responding!”
Gmail's 'Mic Drop' prank backfires in a mortifying way, gets pulled https://t.co/8W53W2ARiz pic.twitter.com/D4wfMAfqU8
— Mashable (@mashable) April 1, 2016
Google did eventually realize their mistakes and the feature was cancelled. They apologized on their blog to all their users.
“Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page.”
[Photo by Paul Sakuma/AP]
