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Email Marketing, Business & Monkeys

Party Pooper Mode – How to Hide MailChimp

October 26th, 2009 | by Ben

party-pooper-thmOne of the things that makes MailChimp special is that we try to make email marketing a little fun. It’s been a secret to our success, really.

(Queue the dark clouds and thunder sound effects)

But some people want MailChimp’s power without all the jokes (some people like the jokes, but their clients don’t).

So we launched a new feature: Party-pooper mode…

Go to Accounts –> My Defaults

my-defaults

Scroll down to “Party pooper mode” and check the radio button for “disable MailChimp humor:”

Don't like our sense of humor? Turn it off with party-pooper mode.

Don't like our sense of humor? Turn it off with party-pooper mode. Warning: activating this feature might cause sudden drowsiness, or the mis-perception that you are using another email provider.

We’ll turn off jokes and links to videos, and we won’t say the word “bummer” anymore. Apparently, some people are offended by that word.

Also, some people didn’t like how MailChimp said he wasn’t wearing any pants:

why-am-i-smiling

Yes, it’s just the suggestion of cartoon nudity, but the thought of naked apes (yes, they’re supposed to be naked, but still) is just too much for some.

So enabling party-pooper mode will remove the chimp altogether, plus his witticisms.

Keep in mind you’ll also lose his occasional compliments:

compliment

and his links to educational videos:

Screenshot_002

Seriously though.

All joking aside (pun intended), this can be handy if you’re setting up MailChimp for one of your clients and you don’t want to risk offending them or scaring them with fun. At least not in your first few meetings. After they get more acquainted with our powerful features, you can suggest they turn the humor on to make the experience more “MailChimpy.”

Also see:

  • Alternatively, you can manage your client’s account for them, and just send them to their own rebrandable reports pages.
  • You can also turn on party-pooper mode by typing HIDEFREDDIE while using the app. Typing SHOWFREDDIE will bring him back. For more Easter egg fun, try using the Konami code inside MailChimp a few times. Random stuff happens.
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28 Comments

    • Bodog says:

      Wow, I can’t believe people actually requested this.

      Hopefully you never suggest that we might have evolved from apes, because that could cause similar outrage.

    • Wrong Size Glass says:

      Is there any way that we who enjoy and appreciate Señor Moñkey’s whit and humor can consume the unused KarMonkey points wasted by those who can’t find a sense of humor under their banana peels?

      Maybe you can create a MC equivalent of ‘Clippy’, except MC’s version won’t be despised & derided nor become the butt of far, far too many jokes (except for his own, of course).

      WSG

    • cell phone skins says:

      I love your humour – and more importantly your service – I am glad to see this feature cause I wanted it also. Thanks for delivering to our customer!

    • Jim says:

      You gotta have options! Enjoyed the post Ben and I’ve posted it in our news round up.

      • Ben says:

        I chuckled at your headline – “MailChimp’s Party Pooper mode puts pants on primate…”

    • Etienne says:

      For us who enjoy Eddie Murphy RAW: Could you set the monkey to ‘parental advisory’? Now that is a proper relevant request!

      • Renee says:

        Yes! Totally agree. I second the ‘Parental Advisory’ Freddie. As marketers, our jobs can be so stressful. Its nice to switch to a platform where you can have a lil fun while you work.

    • Kevin Oh! says:

      I’m glad you called it Party Pooper mode. It’ll remind people how lame they really are should they decide to actually use it.

      The first step is admitting it…

    • Mark says:

      Cool.
      I just switched from Vertical Response to Mailchimp and couldn’t be happier. Your service is truly outstanding.
      The only thing I thought while creating my first campaign was “I wish I could rid of that monkey” and now, voilá!
      Muchas gracias amigos!

    • Louise says:

      Little ole Chimpy in the corny is my muse when typing emails – i can’t imagine life without him.

      Poor little dude. Shunned! in the prim(ate) of his life by those who just don’t understand…

    • Alex says:

      Parhaps there could be a ‘middle ground’ mode where you still have freddy but he’s wearing a suit and tie and all he ever talks about are stock options and portfolios.

      • Ben says:

        We asked, but Freddie said he’d rather be hidden than wear a suit and tie ever again. There’s evidently some kind of backstory there, but he didn’t want to discuss it, nor did we want to prod.

      • F.Misle says:

        I would love for Chimp to wear a tuxedo and talk about stocks! I would upgrade my plan if that happens!

    • Jessica says:

      Your humor is WHY I signed up for mailchimp. I really didn’t even know how I was going to use it, but figured, eh, sounds like fun either way!

      Heck, I convinced my boss to let me buy email credits even though we still had a lot of freebies left (I wanted to show some love). :)

    • zac craven says:

      The word ‘pooper’ is offensive to me, kindly rename it at once.

      • Ben says:

        Hmm, looks like we’ll need to create *another* checkbox to censor the party-pooper checkbox, which then censors the chimp. We’ll get right on it!

    • Yves Simard says:

      I originally hated it but now you have party pooper mode, I am thankful its there and wont be using it.

      We are funny animals!

    • Susan says:

      I LOVE MC and the humor!! It causes me to giggle while working on mailouts. Love-it!

      And I love the party-pooper name. Don’t be offended people, just admit it and own your party-pooper-ed-ness. Yes I said that.

    • Paul says:

      Good on ya for stepping outside the shiny corporate ’stock photo people’ look.

      An off topic comment; does Mail chimp support any primate charities ? Just a thought.

    • MkD says:

      These people obviously need a 2nd job…too much time on their hands.
      I love the comments! There should be more of them!
      Good Job Mail Chimp!

    • Jill says:

      We love the chimp…Two of us in the office use it and we regularly confuse our colleagues by suddenly quoting chimp’s messages. Our chairman was particularly befuddled by our suddent pant references.

      Long live chimp :) He’s a hero…

    • Matt says:

      Censorship on mailchimp!

      I am taking this to the top:

      “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

      ….you tell those poopers Ben.

    • Matt says:

      …not be a party-pooper, but you guys really need to start proofreading the blog posts by Ben- full of typos and misspellings.

      • Ben says:

        Did you mean to write, “not *to* be a party-pooper”? I’ll proofread more often, but we all make oopsies. So long as people get my gist, I’m happy.

    • mark gilchrist says:

      Sorry to say, but you’re onto something here, with the Party Pooper mode. I love the fun-spirited atmosphere and beautiful artwork of your site, but I just can’t recommend you to people who work in more serious environments, such as governments, medical or financial. Sure, you’re as good as Constant Contact, but these people have to answer to others and each time they say your name, they have to explain. Maybe you can (also) brand yourself as MCmail or something.

    • F.Misle says:

      I love you more now because you gave us the option to remove the annoying-talkative monkey! and yes im a party-pooper!

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