Tinder petitions for interracial couple emojis

#RepresentLove

Tinder is petitioning Unicode for interracial couple emojis (Aphee Messer)

Redheads and kangaroos may have gotten their emoji equivalents this year, but interracial couples have yet to be represented by emoji consortium Unicode - and people are not happy with the oversight.

According to a survey conducted by Tinder, 52 per cent of the 4,244 adults aged 25-45 surveyed felt that interracial couples weren’t well-represented in the tech language of emojis, GIFS, and memes.

And, as 61 per cent of respondents and 70 per cent of Tinder users reported feeling "very open to the idea of interracial dating and interracial marriage," according to the survey, the dating app decided to petition Unicode to create multi-racial emoji couples.

The petition, hosted on change.org, states: “Emojis are the universal language of the digital age. We use them to show our emotions, to give clarity and context to our conversations, and to represent the world around us.

“It may seem like there’s an emoji for everything, but that’s not the case.”

The petition also points out that “emojis for people of colour and emojis for same-sex couples both became a reality in 2015, one group of people is still excluded from emoji representation: interracial couples,” before asking: “Isn’t it time all love was represented?”

Tinder then asks that people “join hands, stand together and #RepresentLove,” by signing the petition.

Tinder wants Unicode to create emojis that represent multi-racial couples (Change.org)

In addition to using the hashtag #RepresentLove to promote their cause, interracial couples can also add the tag to photos of themselves and tag @Tinder for the chance to win a personalised emoji.

Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and a driving force behind the emoji project said of the petition: "We want our kids to have emojis that look like their parents. Emoji are the universal language of the internet and should reflect the modern world where interracial relationships are normal."

The goal of the petition is to receive 1000 signatures and it currently has 950 - so it is safe to say Tinder will reach their goal.

However, once Unicode does decide to create interracial couple emojis, the review, approval and standardisation process can take up to two years.

The petition has almost reached 1000 signatures (Change.org)

Let’s hope by 2020 we can show off our relationships with emojis of all skin colours.

You can sign the petition here.