Emoji update adds 157 new icons including ginger-haired to bridge diversity gap

This week’s emoji update is changing the digital zeitgeist
Ginger Parrot has long campaigned for the addition of redheads within the visual language

Pass the SPF50 and hand out the sunhats — the red-headed community is finally celebrating its moment in the sun.

The emoji 11.0 software update yesterday added 157 new characters to the visual keyboard — introducing the lesser-spotted, slightly freckled ginger to the lexicon alongside the bald, the grey and the curly-haired. The pursuit of hirsute inclusivity strikes another bold victory in the drive for social justice.

“I think probably every message I send from now on will have a ginger emoji in it,” said Emma Kelly, creator of ginger advocacy group Ginger Parrot, to BBC Radio Scotland, where the reaction has been particularly vociferous. “I almost felt like I didn’t want to use any emojis because there wasn’t one that looked like me.” Ginger Parrot has long campaigned for the addition of redheads within the visual language.

The toolkit has other additions. The new update adds bagels, superheroes and toilet paper into the digital zeitgeist. There is a bone, a tooth, a lacrosse stick, a magnet and a lettuce leaf; pirates will be cheered by the introduction of a skull and crossbones; scientists by the lab coat and goggles.

The new toolkit features a cupcake, and animals including the kangaroo

A party time emoji will be popular with big weekenders, while the receipt will appeal to big spenders (or big Scrooges). Biological diversity has been boosted by the addition of peacocks and badgers. Mosquitos, too — it’s a fillip for malaria awareness campaigners who praised “the addition of a mosquito emoji, together with concise public health messaging” on website The Conversation for increasing “the chances a message hits home”.

Here lies the rub. You might scoff at the value added from a few new faces but the emoji keyboard has long been recognised as the world’s fastest growing language. In a survey by TalkTalk Mobile, 72 per cent of 18- to 25-year-olds said they found it easier to put their feelings across in emoji icons than in text. Sixty million emojis are shared on Facebook each day.

They’re even a status symbol. As with any update, the rollout has been slow and patchy, though tweeters are seemingly ahead of the curve — the orange-fringed emojis began appearing on Twitter last night. The smartphone messaging update will be slower — newer iPhones are expected to start getting them over next few weeks, with Android and older iPhone models following later in the summer.

Undoubtedly, this adds an element of heirarchy to proceedings — lucky earlybirds can speak a different, more advanced language.

As ever, it’s not what you say but how you say it.

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