Apple's recent release of updates to iOS 9 and El Capitan operating systems came with a whole bunch of new emojis featured in Unicode Consortium's Unicode 8 — over 150 to be exact — allowing users to send unicorns, tacos, a face with rolling eyes and even the middle finger.
However, with each rollout comes the disappointment that some of the characters we really wanted to see were not included. Just think of how long it took for Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit organization that develops the Unicode standard that approves new emojis, to finally include the taco.
Now, it seems like people really want to be able to express themselves using beards.
Beards for Bowels, a campaign to to help raise support and awareness for bowel cancer, started a petition to have Unicode Consortium, Apple and Google add a beard emoji in the next update.
"Beards have been grown in many lengths, shapes and colors since the existence of man," the petition reads. "We have a Santa and mustache emoji (not to mention a bunch of useless ones too). So close, yet so far. For all those beard wearers and pogonophiles, we would like to see a #BeardEmoji released into the digital world."
The beard emoji would take after the already-existing "people" emojis like the baby, man and woman that would allow the user to elect the skin tone and hair color. The emoji would be of the face of a man with full-on facial hair, the beard in a neat, yet long length.
How would you use a #beard #emoji in a Tweet? Use the emoticon :)# in place of a #BeardEmoji https://t.co/a9T7cuyivg pic.twitter.com/QFUWhloDWO
— Beard Emoji (@beard_emoji) November 3, 2015
So far, there have been 1,866 supporters of the petition on Change.org, with just over 600 more needed to reach the 2,500 goal.
Supporters are also encouraged to use the hashtag #Decembeard during the month of December to raise awareness for the campaign.
According to Unicode, an emoji is either proposed via a public submission or by a Unicode Consortium member. The Unicode Emoji Subcommittee then reviews the proposal based on a number of criteria, including expected usage level, if it's frequently requested and image distinctiveness.
Unicode will roll out the next standard, version 9.0 mid-2016, although some proposals have already been accepted as candidates, including the face palm and shrug. However, just because an emoji is given the green light doesn't mean that they will be featured on iOS or Android.
Fingers crossed that the beard emoji becomes available soon.
Source: Beard Emoji
