At last, an emoji for ‘gingers’

THEY are the frequently irritating images found at the end of text messages, where there is seemingly an emoji for every occasion.

Now redheads have got in on the act, with a symbol for ‘gingers’ coming to a phone near you later this year.

The development is down to the Ginger Parrot website, which has gathered 21,7 5 signatures since launching a petition on the Change.org platform three years ago.

The petition read: ‘Redheads. In all their glorious gingerness, they’ve been missed out. Again. If you say you’re going to diversify, why not add a few red-haired emoji?’ Ginger Parrot editor Emma Kelly, herself a redhead, told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday of her delight at the new symbol being accepted. She said: ‘We did feel a bit left out, so the ginger community is quite vocal about how pleased they are that it’s going to be included.’ Social media users took to Twitter to celebrate the inclusion. One user said it was ‘about time’ there was a ginger emoji added to the repertoire, while another said it was a ‘good time to be alive’ to see their hair colour added to the mix.

Less than 2 per cent of the world’s population has red hair, but Scotland has one of the highest concentrations of redheads.

Unicode, which decides on emojis and which released a Saltire emoji last year, will also make curly-haired, whitehaired and bald options available.

Other emojis will include a kangaroo, a DNA symbol and superheroes.