The politics of doodles: Google honours Lucille Ball, but not Ronald Reagan

You might have noticed Google’s Lucille Ball doodle on Sunday, intended to honour the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s most popular comedians. But some conservatives are up in arms about the fact that, in their view, Google is ignoring right-wing icons with its doodle series.

For example, earlier this year Google was mildly criticized for failing to honour the centenary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. This was taken as a particular offensive move since earlier in the year Google marked the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Although a full-on conservative hissy fit didn’t emerge, feathers were nevertheless ruffled.

Now some people are asking why Google chose to honour the centenary of Lucille Ball but not of Ronald Reagan. And Google, which will presumably want to be seen to be neutral, might start to take its doodle decision-making more seriously. Although they will never be able to please all of the people all of the time, the only real solution to this problem might be to avoid covering political figures entirely.

Then again, perhaps the fuss reflects the fact that outside conservative circles, Reagan simply isn’t idolised in the same way as many other US presidents.