Google is looking out for victims of domestic violence in perhaps the most corporate and token-like way possible: by adding the Domestic Violence’s number to the top of relevant search results.
Offering someone who is under severe domestic abuse a helpline, and that too at the top of a search result that they’re already making, is at best saving them a few seconds worth of time. I can almost imagine executives at the company imagining that they’ve managed to win over public opinion with this one publicity stunt. Aligning yourself with victims of abuse by offering them a phone number? Wow, Google, you’ve really got all of this covered, don’t you? No, it’s not like a multi-billion corporation such as yourself needs to take any further steps in helping out, a phone number at the top of relevant searches is all it takes for someone to free themselves from living a real-life, vivid nightmare.
I wish I had better words to offer, and would talk more about the new addition itself, but this is the exact sort of corporate behavior that I absolutely abhor. It’s empty, meaningless, and is unnecessarily publicized for the sole purpose of attempting to score a few brownie points with the general populace. Can a conglomerate like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, afford donating to a few shelters across the U.S.? Well, yes, it absolutely can; however, doing so would be wasting money that’s ever-so-precious to the rich, 1% folk. I mean, how else would they buy their multiple yachts and play real-life Battleship. Maybe the image I’m presenting of such mega-corporations is a bit conflated, since real life corporate types rarely ever twirl their mustaches around that much, but the sentiment behind publicizing making a phone number just a tad bit easier to get to is so hollow and superficial, the act itself is offensive. Don’t want to help and give back to the community? Don’t, go ahead, but at least don’t also commit yourself to empty, feeble gestures of camaraderie in order to seem more socially aware and, therefore, approachable.
The number will show up at the top of one’s Search results, with the requirement that users search for a query that’s somehow relevant to domestic abuse and battery. Much like other relevant numbers are shown right underneath the Search bar, so will this new hotline.
The National Domestic Violence hotline is 1-800-799-7233. Taking the first step towards removing negative and harmful influences in one’s life may be difficult, but it’s a step that needs to be taken regardless.
Read next: How Alphabet’s Q4 was a savior, Google search and YouTube make parent company’s 2022 good
Offering someone who is under severe domestic abuse a helpline, and that too at the top of a search result that they’re already making, is at best saving them a few seconds worth of time. I can almost imagine executives at the company imagining that they’ve managed to win over public opinion with this one publicity stunt. Aligning yourself with victims of abuse by offering them a phone number? Wow, Google, you’ve really got all of this covered, don’t you? No, it’s not like a multi-billion corporation such as yourself needs to take any further steps in helping out, a phone number at the top of relevant searches is all it takes for someone to free themselves from living a real-life, vivid nightmare.
I wish I had better words to offer, and would talk more about the new addition itself, but this is the exact sort of corporate behavior that I absolutely abhor. It’s empty, meaningless, and is unnecessarily publicized for the sole purpose of attempting to score a few brownie points with the general populace. Can a conglomerate like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, afford donating to a few shelters across the U.S.? Well, yes, it absolutely can; however, doing so would be wasting money that’s ever-so-precious to the rich, 1% folk. I mean, how else would they buy their multiple yachts and play real-life Battleship. Maybe the image I’m presenting of such mega-corporations is a bit conflated, since real life corporate types rarely ever twirl their mustaches around that much, but the sentiment behind publicizing making a phone number just a tad bit easier to get to is so hollow and superficial, the act itself is offensive. Don’t want to help and give back to the community? Don’t, go ahead, but at least don’t also commit yourself to empty, feeble gestures of camaraderie in order to seem more socially aware and, therefore, approachable.
The number will show up at the top of one’s Search results, with the requirement that users search for a query that’s somehow relevant to domestic abuse and battery. Much like other relevant numbers are shown right underneath the Search bar, so will this new hotline.
The National Domestic Violence hotline is 1-800-799-7233. Taking the first step towards removing negative and harmful influences in one’s life may be difficult, but it’s a step that needs to be taken regardless.
Read next: How Alphabet’s Q4 was a savior, Google search and YouTube make parent company’s 2022 good