Time for more diverse and inclusive emojis?

Howard Lake | 18 July 2020 | News

• Tagged with:
• charity communications
• emoji
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

It is World Emoji Day, and it seems we still want a greater range of emojis to reflect diverse body types and skin tones.

Different skin tones were first introduced to emoji in 2015 and more were added in 2019. But a survey of 2,000 people commissioned to mark World Emoji Day found that 43% of the population want to see even more diverse emojis.

Similarly many people want to see a greater variety in body types depicted. 

Utility comparison site Uswitch asked 2,000 male and female participants between the ages of 16 and 66+ about their emoji habits and interests.
 

More emoji diversity

• 43% want to see more diverse emojis
  
• 19% want to see more variety in body types. Amongst 16-26 year olds this rose to 45%.
  
• 18% want to see more a wider range of disability emojis
  
• 19%  of those Greater London wanted most to see more skin town variety in family emojis, more than the rest of the country.
  
• 49% of people feel that there should be more emojis that express how they feel in any given context or mood

In a recent survey on emoji use, nearly half of respondents indicated they wanted more diverse and inclusive emojis. So USwitch redesigned emojis for the body positivity movement.

Rehan Ali, mobile expert comments:

“Smartphone users want variety and inclusivity with the emojis they send, and that includes a greater selection of body shapes and skin tones.”

Read more about the emoji research from USwitch.
 

• Charity emoji name fun (9 April 2019)
  
• The Story of Emoji (book)
  
• WWF uses emoji in endangered species fundraising appeal (5 June 2015)

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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.