Google Doesn’t Celebrate Memorial Day?

As many of you know, the popular search engine Google regularly tasks it graphic artists to craft variation of its logo to celebrate holidays large and small. For example, Google recently adjusted their logo to honor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Birthday. They also change it for major holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July.

So when I woke up this morning and found the standard Google logo on www.google.com, I was a bit shocked. I checked around some Google forums on the web and found that I was not the only one who was surprised at the lack of a change.

Some people gave Google the benefit of the doubt with excuses ranging from “their graphics designers took a long weekend” to “Google is international and this is an American holiday.” Each of those excuses is flawed because taking the day off to honor those who you refuse to honor on your website would be truly ironic, and if anyone has the ability to detect what country a visitor is coming from it would be Google. Seriously, Google can tell me what HOUSE visits my website in some cases!

Another writer pointed out that Google has never changed their logo for Memorial Day, so it is unlikely this is a deliberate slap to those serving in the War on Terror. This makes some sense, although I don’t know that it answers the original question. At some point the powers that be in Google sat down at a conference table and someone said “wouldn’t it be cool to change our logo to match different holidays.” Then someone sat down and compiled a list of important holidays (like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Birthday *note sarcasm*). Evidently, Memorial Day did not make the list back in 1999 and it continues to miss the ‘Google standard’ today.

These are the type of things that make people like myself angry, and angry people are motivated people. Motivated people will look for alternatives for searching, advertising, and mapping. Unfortunately, there is not currently a website that comes close to measuring up to Google in any of those areas. But who knows… Someone out there who was planning on BBQing today may just sit down with some friends and start doodling on a napkin. That’s how Google was born and came to dethrone the search giant Yahoo.

People who were angry with AOL for various reasons (too numerous to mention here) demanded an alternative. And when one became available that could viably compete, hundreds of thousands of people ditched AOL in a heartbeat.

Tread lightly Google. As many veterans will tell you, you never know when you might step on a toe-popper that could change your whole world in a heartbeat.

For the veterans who have served and the soldiers who are currently serving, I say THANK YOU. Keep up the good work because there are some of us who understand and appreciate the sacrifices you make.