The world faced the biggest prank it can ever be with the year 2020. And though, some are slowly going back to what you used to pre-pandemic, there are still issues and problems the world face in the early months of 2021.Everyday activities, jobs, and even traditions that we are used to are being affected by this crisis. With this, Google cancels it’s April Fool’s Day prank, for the second year.

April Fool’s Day tradition

The month of April starts with a day full of pranks and jokes. The origin of this tradition is still quite unknown but people has been celebrating it over the years. People are trying to create the best, most creative, and most entertaining prank and posting in their social media pages. But before the dawn of these online pranks, BBC had pulled a prank on their audience on April 1 1957. BBC current affairs program Panorama pranked the nation with a report about the annual spaghetti harvest. Newspapers were divided if this is the best or worst prank ever on public.

No Google pranks this April 2021

Though it has been a tradition for some. Several companies especially with international audience, continue to be sensitive about the current pandemic crisis, including Google. Since the start of the pandemic March 2020, several companies and industries decided to put off their April Fool’s Day celebration.

In an article written by Business Insider, Google cancels it’s annual tradition of April Fool’s Day pranks. This has been it’s second year in a row. It had been a tradition that Google creates a series of elaborate and entertaining pranks for its audience. However, the tradition is continuously put to “pause” this year.

Business Insider gathered this information with a leaked internal memo sent by Google’s VP of global marketing, Marvin Chow. He explains that the company will continue its “pause” of April Fools’ Day pranks in 2021. This is due to serious problems are still being faced by the world now. The message obtained from this memo states:

As you will remember, last year we made the decision to pause our longstanding Google tradition of celebrating April Fools’ Day, out of respect for all those fighting COVID-19. With much of the world still grappling with serious challenges, we feel we should again pause the jokes for April Fools’ Day this year. Like we did last year, we should continue to find appropriate ways to bring moments of joy to our users throughout the year (e.g. Doodles, easter eggs, etc.)”

Google confirmed this information with Business Insider as well. Also, The Verge posted an update with additional confirmation from Google. This states that “In 2020, we made the decision to pause our longstanding Google tradition of celebrating April Fools’ Day, out of respect for all those fighting COVID-19. With much of the world still grappling with serious challenges, we will again pause the jokes for April Fools’ Day in 2021,”

Amidst all this, Google still continues to celebrate April Fool’s Day through other activities like Easter Eggs and Google Doodles.