Google Doodle Hugs Itself for Mother's Day

Google Doodle Hugs Itself for Mother's Day

 

If you haven't yet called your parents for Mother's Day – and we apologize in advance if that's not an option for your particular situation – Google's doing its part to tug on your heartstrings should you try to search for things on the Web today.

That's right – it's time for a new Google doodle.

Blink and you'll miss the short animation, which starts off with a pearl necklace-wearing "Mama g" waiting around an empty room. The door slowly cracks open and in run her two "o" children – we'll call them "Red" and "Yellow." They tackle her with flying hugs (or try to, at least), and give her a pretty purple flower to commemorate the day.

As the little Google letter family stand there, either hand-in-hand or with their little letter arms around each other, the rest of the Google logo fades in. No coloration or normal font faces this time: The focus of the scene remains on mom and kids when the animation officially ends.

Cute and simple – or so you might think. In actuality, the time, effort, and animation required to build the Doodle aren't the only complexities surrounding Mother's Day drawings. Namely, Mother's Day isn't a universally agreed-upon holiday.

As Slashgear's Chris Davies notes, countries like the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Portugal celebrate their version of Mother's Day on the fourth Sunday of Lent. That was March 18 this year, which means that Google had to go and create a different Doodle for the earlier occasion and ensure that it only appeared on the Google home page for users within countries that run the earlier date.

It's in the humble opinion of this reporter that the May Mother's Day celebrants got the better deal. Google's March Doodle – a pretty, childlike crayon drawing of the logo (consisting of two family members making up the two O's) – doesn't quite tug at the heartstrings as well as Google's May animation.

Of course, Mother's Day isn't just about celebrating matriarchs. It's also about commercialization. To that end, Google has accompanied today's Doodle with a post on theofficial Google Blog that details how mothers worldwide are using Google tools to, "keep their families running smoothly." That includes everything from using Google Hangouts to catch up with the younglings, Skype-style, to Chrome Web apps that allow a mother and son bond over robot-creation, to a Google user who ended up reuniting with her birth parents thanks to some crafty Google searching.