British boy Teddy Cottle (10) has started a petition against Apple’s ‘nerd’ emoji – the yellow icon with glasses and prominent front teeth. He finds the emoji offensive to people who wear glasses and wants the technology company to adjust the figure. Teddy has now also designed his own version.
The emoji he invented himself is smiling and has no teeth. The 10-year-old from Oxfordshire calls his icon the ‘genius’ emoji. He told ‘BBC’ that Apple creates the wrong image with their figure that people who wear glasses are nerds, “and that is really terrible,” said Teddy. “It makes me sad and angry, and if I find it offensive, there are thousands of people around the world who find it offensive too.” He doesn’t mind wearing glasses at all: “I like wearing glasses because they make me see much better and they look good and stylish.”
He received help from his teachers and friends to draw up the petition. “We think the nerd emoji is offensive to all people in the world who wear glasses,” it said. “We think people who wear glasses are cool and are concerned that people who get glasses for the first time will think they look like rabbits or rats.” The purpose of the petition? “We ask that you change the name of the emoji to the genius emoji and change the design.”
Miss Lisa, who helped with the petition, is proud of Teddy. “I admire his inquisitive spirit and the fact that he fights for what he believes in,” said his teacher. “He is very vocal about that, but in a mature way, and I think we should support, encourage and praise that as well.”
The petition already has more than 850 signatures. People respond positively to his initiative: “Totally agree with you, Teddy! Let’s make change,” said one of the signatories.
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