*Updated* Where Are Our Ginger Emojis?
The imagined ginger emoji
**Updated: read below response from Unicode**
We’ve spent nearly three years battling for ginger justice to get a redhead emoji added to Apple products. We left you in March 2016 with the encouraging news that the Unicode Consortium had recommended the integration of red hair modifiers on future emojis.
However, several months later, what we’re now faced with is several kicks in the teeth.
This week, Apple revealed 72 new emojis to be integrated into their emoji keyboard in their iOS 10.2 update, due to arrive in December. Amongst them are two tributes to the late David Bowie, taking the form of his 1973 Aladdin Sane album cover. Let’s compare and contrast, shall we?
New emojis
Aladdin Sane
Hmm, do you see something amiss here? Us too. What is totally ridiculous about the new emojis is that David Bowie himself had bright red hair on the cover of Aladdin Sane, and had ginger hair for a long stretch of his career (which was his best look). And yet, Apple has deliberately avoided the gingerness and has opted for bright pink and blue colours instead.
Why oh why, Apple, are you going so far out of your way to avoid adding red hair to your emojis?!
Apple’s team seem perfectly capable of redoing the many, many different phases of the moon, but not adding a modifier to allow a red hair option. As if it wasn’t ridiculous enough that there were 10 different moon options on Apple’s emoji keyboard, now they’ve actually taken time out of their day to redo them.
But, hang on a minute. I’m doing Apple an injustice here. Because there is a redhead emoji coming in iOS 10.2, if you look closely – in the form of a creepy clown…
What point are they trying to make?!
Thanks so much, Apple. FYI, it doesn’t count.
We contacted Unicode Consortium for an update on how the process of getting a red-haired emoji added, and here’s what they said:
The committee is still considering mechanisms for emoji variation, including hair color. The issues are complex, and discussion is ongoing.
The confusion continues!
Sign our Change.org petition for redhead emoji representation
By Emma