In news that can only described as a real stinker, members of the Unicode Consortium have taken a stance against a series of proposed emoji.
The Unicode Consortium is a not-for-profit organization whose members take on the task of maintaining the Unicode standard that represents how text and images are represented online.
According to a report from BuzzFeed News, the Unicode Consortium is currently embroiled in an intense debate over emoji — the ideograms that are present on most social media platforms, mobile operating system keyboards and, not least of all, their own movie.
BuzzFeed reports that typographers Michael Everson and Andrew West are two of the most vociferous critics, citing concerns that facial variations on emoji like the poop emoji — including a ‘Frowning Pile of Poo’ emoji — are “cheapening the Unicode Consortium’s long body of work.”
“Organic waste isn’t cute,” wrote Everson in an October 22nd, 2017 memo, according to BuzzFeed News. “The idea that our five committees would sanction further cute graphic characters based on this should embarrass absolutely everyone who votes yes on such an excrescence.”
For his part, West was concerned that allowing a variation on the traditional poop emoji would set a precedent and “open the floodgates for an open-ended set of ‘Pile of Poo’ emoji with emotions, such as ‘Crying Pile of Poo,’ ‘Pile of Poo with Look of Triumph.’”
BuzzFeed also managed to connect with other members of the Unicode Consortium who seemed to equivocate on the issue.
“We are always trying to make the emoji approval process more transparent, inclusive, and efficient,” said Jennifer Lee, in an interview with BuzzFeed.
As of October 31st, 2017, the Frowning Pile of Poo emoji was added to Unicode’s official register.
Source: BuzzFeed News
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