World Emoji Day 2018 might sound like the most inane holiday of all time. In fact, it’s probably up there with Sticky Bun Day (21st February – get to know) . Then again, emojis are now how a lot of us communicate online nowadays. Struggling for an instagram caption? Wang a couple of emojis in there (the cluster of stars is pleasingly ambiguous).
Friend just told you she got engaged? Ring emoji/popping champagne/heart eyes. All three if you’re feeling effusive. Someone checking up on your hangover? Green face. Possibly spewing, depending on intensity. You get the picture. In fact, you don’t need the picture. You’ve got emojis.
So World Emoji Day is actually a (sort of) warranted holiday. And Apple is celebrating how they see fit, by unveiling a roster of emojis inspired by the cultural zeitgeist. This is our inference, anyway.
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Apple has released a new batch of emojis including a more diverse range of skin colours and hair colours. Gingers – long overlooked by the emoji community – have finally got a look-in. Meanwhile, there is a bald man. He looks young, wide-eyed; perhaps he is recovering from chemotherapy. Perhaps he has lost his hair prematurely. One thing’s for sure, Apple is steering clear of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned emojis of yore, with the roster becoming more inclusive by the year.
Sillier additions include the lobster and the cupcake – fitting tributes to millennial foodie culture, whereby haunts like Burger + Lobster and Lola’s Cupcakes serve as drains on youngsters’ house deposits. I’m kidding. We’ll never be able to buy houses.
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Meanwhile, calls for Apple to include the disabled community in its output of emojis haven’t yet completely come to fruition, with 2019 looking set to be the year Apple rolls out its accessibility emojis. Service dogs, hearing aids, prosthetic limbs and people in wheelchairs are rumoured to be on the roster, if this tweet by Emojipedia is anything to go by.
We, for one, can’t wait for a more vibrant, diverse and celebrative range of emojis. Bring on #WorldEmojiDay2019.
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