Being a redhead is something that has always made me stand out. I’m easy to spot in crowds, I have weird national days dedicated to me, and there are less than 2% of people with my hair color in the world. Needless to say, we’re unique. This uniqueness has certainly come with some silly jokes, but I’ve gotten used to them and actually find some of them to be funny. Thanks to festivities like Kick A Ginger Day or things of the like, redheads have joined together and created super cool events like the Ginger Pride Rally (it’s in Melbourne this year!). It’s become pretty cool to be a ginger. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that I can easily be mistaken for a member of the Weasley family.
Despite these special days and rallies, we are still often forgotten. Apple came out with the iOS 8.3 update awhile back now to include more racially diverse emojis to better represent their large customer base. With this one step forward, Apple neglected to include a single red-haired emoji character, prompting an outcry from the ginger community. A petition was started online in hopes to gain the attention of the company and Unicode Consortium, the actual emoji creators. The petition called for them to create another update in the future to include emoji people with red hair. As of this moment, the petition currently has 21,306 signatures.
Since the iOS 8.3 update, we've been given plenty of new emojis such as an avocado, a unicorn, a black heart, and many more, but still nothing for gingers. Thanks to the complaints of redheads everywhere, it is now being seriously considered. It's actually been reported by Emojipedia that the lack of a redhead emoji is the biggest complaint they have received over the last few months. A meeting is being held between Apple and Unicode to discuss the possibility of adding in some redhead emojis to satisfy the ginger emoji users that want to be represented like everybody else. There's no word as of yet if the emojis will be their own separate characters, or if users will have the option to simply pick an emoji and change the hair color as they please, just as we do to change the skin color. No matter what they choose, the update wouldn't arrive until at least 2018.
Even if you don't know a redhead personally, you can see lots of us in Hollywood these days. Those all too commonly told rumors of us being extinct in years to come don't seem too realistic when you think about it. Ed Sheeran, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher--our people seem to be doing rather well for themselves. The ginger pride can only be improved with our own emojis.
Whether you were born with natural red hair or choose to dye it red, next year is looking to be a fun time for us to express ourselves via iMessage!
