Former Spice Girl Mel B is backing a new campaign for Unicode to introduce emojis with Black hairstyles.
There are over 3,790 emojis available today. However, none feature popular hairstyles Black people wear, like afros, braids, cornrows, or locs.
The Campaign for 4 New Emojis
The campaign, launched by youth-led nonprofit RISE 365 and Good Relations PR, calls on Unicode to introduce four new emojis that reflect Black hairstyles.
Unicode is the organization that decides which emojis are distributed worldwide.
RISE 365 tasked its young members with creating the designs. After extensive brainstorming, the group settled on the four styles they felt best represented the diversity within Black hair culture.
The designs are set to be submitted to the Unicode Consortium in April 2025 for official consideration.
Making the case for Black Hair Emojis
This isn’t the first time advocates have tried to diversify the emoji lineup. In 2019, Rhianna Jones submitted an online petition for an Afro hair emoji, backed by more than 65,000 signatures.
However, it was declined by Unicode, which argued that the existing “curly hair” emoji was meant to represent a variety of hairstyles. Despite this, less significant submissions like fondue, a mouse trap, and an accordion were released as new emojis that same year.
Vanita Brown, a designer at Good Relations PR, told The Guardian that Unicode’s decisions rely heavily on the frequency of Google searches and other data-driven feedback.
Mel B’s Fight Against Hair Discrimination
Mel B has joined RISE 365 and Good Relations in asking supporters to frequently search terms like “Afro hair” on Google to demonstrate the demand for these new emojis.
Earlier this month, the artist also supported a World Afro Day campaign calling on the UK government to update its Equality Act 2010 to make afro hair a protected characteristic to tackle hair discrimination.
Reflecting on her own experiences, she shared how stylists pressured her to straighten her hair during the Spice Girls’ first video shoot for Wannabe.
“My big hair didn’t fit the pop star mold,” Mel B explained. “But I stood my ground – backed by my girls – and I sang and danced as me with my big hair, my brown skin and I was totally proud of who I was.”
Feature image credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock
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