Millions of Gmail users found no amusement with one of Google’s April Fools’ day 2016 pranks.
The Alphabet unit inserted a prominent orange button in the window for composing Gmail. When pressed, the button automatically sent a GIF of a Minion dropping a mic and muted the email thread.
“Email’s great, but sometimes you just wanna hit the eject button,” Google said in a blog post. “Today, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop.”
There were a lot of complaints following this on Twitter and Gmail’s help forum, where users said they had curiously clicked the button and then accidentally sent the GIF in a work or sensitive email. A few users claimed they had sent it to potential employers. “Not only am I mortified of the mistake, but this could potentially cost me my dream job,” one user wrote on the Gmail help forum.
Within a few hours, Gmail removed the button. The company wrote on its Gmail blog: “Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry.” Google further added in the same post. “The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page,”
For long Google has used this day as an opportunity to let employees have fun and showcase their funny side. This year itself, there were at least 15 pranks that included a way to search for photos with emojis and videos about self-driving bicycles and a new YouTube feature called SnoopaVision that let users watch 360-degree videos with rap singer Snoop Dogg.
Did Google’s controversial April fools’ Gmail prank have an impact on any of your potential job opportunities? Let us know in the comments below.
