There have been some inspired Google hoaxes. Google Gulp, Gmail Paper and Google Romance were kinda funny. This Thursday, though, Sergey Brin and Larry Page must have been too busy contemplating how much they’re earning in their stock sell-off to worry about a decent April Fool’s Day joke. Check this shit:
Click “our new name” and you’re taken to a new page in which you’re told the following:
Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.
We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains.
In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: “Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.”
Ugh. That’s the best you can come up with, guys? Fire the people who thought that was a good idea. Unless it was you, Brin and Page. In which case, sell yourselves out of control of Google (unlikely).
