Millennials have a lot of negative stereotypes to carry around, but the one thing that is becoming too mainstream is the fact that companies think that using emojis is the best way to get our attention. Sure, a lot of us have smart phones and we use the cute little images in our messages, but that's where they should stay. There are other ways to get the attention of millennials without the use of emojis in advertisments outside of social media.
I don't need to see emojis in every aspect of my life. One that is now popping up everywhere is the Schick\Skintimates commercial. It would have been easy for the company to keep this campaign on social media by simply saying, "want to be like the *dancing red dress emoji*? We can help." But no, they took it too far and had to turn emojis into people because, you know, millennial girls definitely want to be the personification of the hair flip emoji.
This commercial is an annoying song "featuring" the hair flip emoji, the red dress dancing emoji, a running emoji and the twin dancers emoji. It honestly offends me to see that a company thinks that millennial girls can only comprehend emojis. It seems like the company is trying too hard, and it actually makes me want to not use their product. It makes me sad to think about how much "creative" effort was put into this campaign. McDonalds does the same thing with a commercial where everybody is a real life emoji, but why? Why not just have normal people doing everything. It does not make you automatically more desirable just because you use a yellow sphere as a head, if anything, it makes a company less desirable.
With so many commercials like this, it's beginning to feel forced. Companies are trying to be "hip" and "cool," but what they don't realize is that it's obvious because it breaks away from their brand image and message. Take Chevy for example; there is no real reasoning behind this campaign. When selling a car, you don't want it to look silly, but that's what their campaign does. 
They say, "words alone can't describe the new 2016 Cruze," but they can. Companies have been using words for years, and contrary to popular belief, so have millennials! We don't need to see that somebody thinks that it is *fire emoji* or "sexy" by showing an oversized winky face emoji. We are constantly aware that emojis aren't for the professional world, and yet advertising campaigns are starting to try to change that. On social media they then tell you to "decode the emojis." I don't need to decode emojis; let's use real words instead. Juicy Fruit tried this same method by showing emojis to say their gum is a party in your mouth. Just say that, Juicy Fruit; nobody actually wants to sit around decoding emoji messages. Our brains have better things to think about.
While most campaigns with emojis try to hard, there are some that manage to stay true to their brand image and message. Always' #LikeAGirl campaign once again manages to top everybody else with their emoji campaign. There are young girls talking about how they wish that there were more girls in the professional and sport categories of emojis. They tie it into what the company's message is about: empowering girls. If companies are going to keep insisting that emojis are good for their brand, they need to stop aimlessly including them in campaigns and think it through.
Millennials don't only use emojis to communicate. We know how to form actual thoughts and sentences. We know how to express our emotions without a little red angry face. We do not need to see them everywhere we turn. So, please, ad agencies, keep the emojis on the screen and out of my life.
