As the email left subscribers confused, they started to share jokes wondering if it was a publicity stunt.
Subscribers to an HBO Max mailing list received an odd, baffling email from the streaming service. As some tried to figure out the truth behind it, it also led to a plethora of jokes online.
Users across America and a few in the UK were surprised to find an email in their inbox with subject line “Integration Test Email #1″. With the content consisting of just a single line, the mail read: “This template is used by integration tests only.”
As the buzz grew louder, HBO Max clarified it wasn’t a new show and apologised for the gaffe. “We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience”, it wrote on Twitter. Responding to the jokes and memes online, the streaming platform said, “Yes, it was the intern”, adding: “No, really. And we’re helping them through it.”
We mistakenly sent out an empty test email to a portion of our HBO Max mailing list this evening. We apologize for the inconvenience, and as the jokes pile in, yes, it was the intern. No, really. And we’re helping them through it. ❤️
— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) June 18, 2021
But as soon as the intern was blamed for the error, thousands of Twitter users rallied together to assure the person that it “gets better”, sharing their own horror stories at workplace. With hashtag #DearIntern, the microblogging site was flooded with warm messages cheering up the person. Some even tagged the company to give him/her a new show!
dear intern:
it gets better.
♥️
ps. don’t wear a beret for awhile, k?
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern, when I was 25 I made a PDF assigning each employee to the Muppet they reminded me of the most. I meant to send it to my work friend, but I accidentally sent it to the entire company. My supervisor (Beaker) wanted to fire me, but the owners (Bert & Ernie) intervened. https://t.co/zMKvQ6nxjj
— aerin. (@AerinChevyFord) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern, I was using my desktop calendar to make a monthly note of when I started my menstrual period, but after several months I realized I was making that note on a calendar I shared with all of my colleagues company wide. I was 37 years old.
— Caissie (@Caissie) June 18, 2021
Dear intern,
I once globally took down Spotify. It almost happened twice. My team was awesome about it and I’m still here. You managed to find something broken in the way integration tests are done. It’s a good thing and will help improve things. Good luck <3.
— Daenney (@daenney) June 18, 2021
HBO Intern, you are breathtaking! I mean it! Congrats on making your first big mistake. It’s like a right of initiation for us developers
HT to @_workchronicles pic.twitter.com/8SsQNiXBBr— Charles C. Pustejovsky III 👍 (@CCPustejovsky) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern, pic.twitter.com/pBhl6hDQU7
— Mad Men Quotes (@MadMenQts) June 18, 2021
Big hug to the intern who sent out that HBO Max email. #DearIntern pic.twitter.com/q9gv2ASjJG
— Gena Hymowech🏳️🌈😷💉 (@genah) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern, as a young lawyer I proof read a legal brief and filed it with the court. I caught a typo and blindly used the global find and replace function. Pro tip: don’t do that. My brief argued for the rights of “the panties.” Not “the parties.” All 50 pages of it. 🤦🏻♀️🩲🩲 https://t.co/PDJYMXuOlw
— Suzanne Lovett (@sdtlovett) June 18, 2021
Dear intern, for the first two months of being admin we thought this was a rose emoji 🌷. So every D-Rose post had a tulip instead.
how far we’ve made it https://t.co/HkpjHNabJd
— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) June 18, 2021
Dear Intern,
In the first month of my new HR job with a major defense contractor, I sent out an email about shirt orders that included the division president and several corporate leaders.
Title of email: Your Shit is in the HR Office – Please Pick Up by COB
— Hannah Holloway (@hholloway2010) June 18, 2021
Never empathised more with a stranger than with the intern who sent the HBO Max integration test email #1
We’ve all done worse buddy
— I Am Devloper (@iamdevloper) June 18, 2021
when’s the hbo max intern gonna get their own hbo max show
— gabe bergado (@gabebergado) June 18, 2021
It all started after 9 pm, ET, according to Gizmodo, when customers began receiving the mail. While at first a few customers shared the screenshot of the email to ask if anyone else received it, soon, people realised it went to majority of the platform’s subscribers.
Integration Test Email #1.
Anyone else get this from HBO Max 🧐 pic.twitter.com/NuYAVvKjnI
— Eduardo Cuevas (@EduardoCuevas) June 18, 2021
Jokes followed soon, with some speculation it was a viral marketing strategy, while others thought it must be the title of an upcoming series. Many others who didn’t get the mail also started to share memes, saying they feel left out after seeing all the buzz online.
Mare of Easttown ☑️
Friends Reunion ☑️
Integration Test Email #1 ☑️— Jason Kilar (@jasonkilar) June 18, 2021
Lol if it turns out the HBO Max email goof is a stunt for a new show called Integration Test Email then congrats to the marketing team
— Rachel Tobac (@RachelTobac) June 18, 2021
Hoping the Integration Test Email #1 I just got from @hbomax is somehow the first step in extremely clever viral marketing for #Peacemaker. 🕊️🔫☮️
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 18, 2021
fun fact: if u say integration test email backwards 2 times really fast, it sounds like ‘omg watch #GENERATION on hbo max pls it’s so good pls’
— Justice Smith (@standup4justice) June 18, 2021
“Integration Test Email #1” has always been my favorite Dylan closing track. pic.twitter.com/WrEScU5Cs2
— Larry Karaszewski (@Karaszewski) June 18, 2021
Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ all having the same hastily called all-hands meeting right now WHAT IS OUR “INTEGRATION TEST EMAIL?”
— Mike Royce (@MikeRoyce) June 18, 2021
Thank you for including me @hbomax Integration Test Email passed! pic.twitter.com/yO52ug6KA8
— Emily L. (@Pagemaster4Life) June 18, 2021
“Integration Test Email #1” has gotten HBO more views than anything else they’ve produced since Game of Thrones ended… pic.twitter.com/SBjYGvbFWu
— Jake Williams (@MalwareJake) June 18, 2021
Me, waiting for the @hbomax “Integration Test #2” email. #hbo #HBOMax #devops pic.twitter.com/zbNRVKnoVk
— Kevin Hewson (@kevinhewson) June 18, 2021
All of us uncool kids who don’t have HBO Max and didn’t receive our integration test email… pic.twitter.com/B5xhfxDDPt
— Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) June 18, 2021
