The Only Thing You Won’t Find on Google

Do you ever notice Google’s “doodles,” that is, the little changes they make to their logo to commemorate certain events and holidays?

Google observes some of the most obscure events and holidays in the world, such as the Chinese Dragon Boat festival and Piet Mondrian’s birthday, and of course they never miss Earth Day. But what was conspicuously absent in Google's logo this year was Easter.

After a little investigation, I found Google has ignored Easter in their "doodles" every year since 2001 (when they observed it with a simple Easter egg).

I further noticed they have never recognized Memorial Day.

You can see for yourself in Google’s doodle collections for 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000.

I'm sure at least one Google user was happy to see Google's remembrance of the Birthday of Gaston Julia, but who in Google's customer base is served by their consistent disregard of a holiday celebrated by 77% of the U.S. population and 33% of the entire world (still the largest single religious group by percentage)?

As a Google customer (we advertise our business on Google), we have a right and obligation to complain, but no one else does what Google does, so we can’t easily consider taking our business elsewhere.

Google users must complain about the search giant’s snubbing of the most pivotal event in human history. (Even secularists have to acknowledge the historical significance of Christ’s life.) While you’re at it, demand that on Memorial Day they recognize the sacrifices of U.S. soldiers’ for the sake of freedom in the world. If you are a Google user, send them your comments at their help center: http://www.google.com/support.

Check out what other Google users have said regarding Google’s disregard for Easter and Memorial Day.

Thankfully, other bloggers are already getting the word out about this. The Smarmy Carny posted the following remarks about Google’s Easter:

Just like I posted last year, Google has again failed to come up with even a non-religious/bunny-oriented Easter Google Doodle to replace their standard logo.
Easter again fails to make the list, losing out to some popular holidays as well as some real off-the-wall ones. The holidays Doodled since last Easter are: "Season's Greetings" (not Christmas, of course!), Thanksgiving, Independence Day, St. Patrick's Day, the Olympics, New Year's, the Lunar New Year, the Persian New Years, the (always rousing) National Library Week, National Teacher Day, Mother's Day Father's Day, Earth Day, Halloween, the anniversary of the Lunar Landing, and the birthdays of Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Braille, Martin Luther King, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Percival Lowell, and Google.

Then again, perhaps Google is just confused and celebrates Passover by "passing over" Easter every year.

And Noel Sheppard posted this at NewsBusters:

Google Ignores Memorial Day

...

NewsBusters reader Mr. Snuggles has pointed out something conspicuously absent from Google’s various pages today – any reference to Memorial Day.

I’m sure most Googlers are extremely aware of how Google will dress up its logo at its web search or news pages in honor of holidays or special occasions. Google has been known to do this on Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. In fact, here is a display of all the Google holiday logos so far this year, and since 1999. You’ll even find that Google celebrated Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday just a week ago. For those scratching their heads, he created Sherlock Holmes.

Read Sheppard's full post here.