List of Google Easter eggs
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Google has a tradition of perpetrating April Fools Day hoaxes.
Hoaxes
2000: Google MentalPlex
Todo
2002: Pigeon Rank
Todo
2004: Google Copernicus Center
Todo
2005: Google Gulp
Google Gulp, a fictitious drink, was announced by Google in 2005. According to the company, this beverage would optimize one's use of the Google search engine by increasing the drinker's intelligence. It was claimed this boost was achieved through real-time analysis of the user's DNA and carefully tailored adjustments to neurotransmitters in the brain (a patented technology termed Auto-Drink). The drink was said to come in "4 great flavors": Glutamate Grape, Sugar-Free Radical, Beta Carroty (beta carotene), and Sero-Tonic Water (serotonin).
A parody
This hoax was likely intended as a parody of Google's invite-only email service called Gmail. Although ostensibly free, the company claimed the beverage could only be obtained by returning the cap of a Google Gulp bottle to a local grocery store: a catch-22. In the Google Gulp FAQ, Google replies to the observation "I mean, isn't this whole invite-only thing kind of bogus?" by saying "Dude, it's like you've never even heard of viral marketing."
Additionally, Google humorously addressed the controversy surrounding Gmail's privacy policy. Google Gulp was said to occasionally send data about one's use of the product via a wireless transmitter in the base of the Google Gulp bottle, whencefrom it would be received at the "GulpPlex":
- ...a heavily guarded, massively parallel server farm whose location is known only to Eric Schmidt, who carries its GPS coordinates on a 64-bit-encrypted smart card locked in a stainless-steel briefcase handcuffed to his right wrist.
Reflecting consumer mistrust of long-winded privacy policies, Google further noted:
- No personally identifiable information of any kind... [will ever be] transferred in any way to any untrustworthy third party, ever, we swear.
Google also alluded to the continuing beta-test status of Gmail, citing concerns over potential competition from Microsoft when questioned about a final release.
Active ingredients
One of the purported active ingredients in Google Gulp was a monoamine oxidase inhibitor or MAOI, a type of antidepressant. Sero-Tonic Water additionally contained selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs); the combination of SSRIs and MAOIs often leads quickly to a potentially fatal condition associated with seizure and coma.
Non-hoaxes
Google often choose April Fools Day to announce actual products. This marketing strategy is used to make people think that the product is a hoax and then surprises them to show that it is actually real. It also makes their real hoaxes more plausible. Gmail itself was initially considered a hoax by some, as Google announced the service on April 1, 2004, and in 2005 the increase of storage space was also thought to be false.