When Saying Nothing Is Saying Something: Google Edition

Google is probably not feeling lucky today.

Some conservatives—at least a loosely defined collection of bloggers and pundits cited by the Los Angeles Times—disapprove of the festive changes the search giant periodically makes to the logo on its homepage.

Or, better put, what festive changes Google does not make. Conservatives argue that failing to make a conceit to commemorate Veterans Day and Memorial Day is anti-American.

The issue came to a head after Google playfully altered its homepage logo in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch last week. Dignifying the Soviet achievement? That's anti-American, too.

Google's many "holiday logos" can be seen here, and are self-evidently quirky in nature. They're not intended as an endorsement of an event's importance, but a way to spice up the Spartan homepage with a new curiosity from time to time (the 50th anniversary of understanding DNA, for instance, doesn't exactly halt mail delivery).

Google is an obvious lightning rod for conservative ire. Young, progressive, liberal, and intellectual—a combination that's never fared well with the G.O.P.

But resolving the squabble over Google's patriotism isn't the issue. That such a lighthearted, idiosyncratic—almost precious—practice on the part of the internet giant has courted controversy to begin with is a example of what a very small step it takes in business to rock somebody's boat.

Prominent companies can't afford to project personality, when it almost always comes at the price of a backlash over political correctness.

In this particular case, it's doubtful that Google will change its tune to please a small group of detractors. What's a shame is what such bully tactics have already done to make the corporate world a much more boring place.

by Liz Gunnison