With more than 140 million redheads in the world accounting for 19 per cent of the world’s population, it’s about time they were fairly represented in emoji-land.
There are few simple pleasures in life that bring as much delight as an expansion pack to your emoji keyboard (we still love you, avocado). But with mythical creatures such as fairies and dragons making a debut in place of redheaded persons, it’s not hard to see why this neglected group have been getting frustrated (apparently a lack of a ginger emoji has been one of the biggest complaints received by Emojipedia).
157 new emoji characters have arrived this month, including cupcakes, bagels, llamas, hippos, skateboards and, you guessed it, red hair representation. But before you get too excited and fire a cryptic message with a bagel and an aubergine (bab ganoush – duh) to your Tinder flame, according to the Emojipedia the rollout may appear differently depending on your smartphone operating system, and might not actually update on your device until August/September *sigh*.
Either way, we’re tickled pink the red-haired individuals (and bald ones for that matter) will secure their rightful place in our alternative keyboard community. Much like all good things in life, it’s worth the wait.
In celebration of the red-haired folk, we’ve rounded up our favourite fashionable items that are way better in orange:
