Durex writes a firm letter to the Unicode Consortium, pushing for a condom emoji

Durex is hardly joking when it comes to the condom emoji.

The Unicode Consortium, the group behind the emoji approval process, is convening this week and Durex has drafted an open letter asking them to approve its design.

The brand’s effort launched last November, ahead of World AIDs Day, with the #CondomEmoji hashtag, asking for it be approved in an effort to promote safe sex.

It’s still pushing firmly for it: Durex tweeted a quickie letter, combining emojis and old-fashioned words, to lobby the Unicode Consortium to approve the emoji. The cartoony icons are increasingly becoming an integral part of young people’s communication.

“A safe sex emoji will empower them to talk openly about protection,” part of it reads. “Let’s make 2016 the year emojis take safe sex seriously.”

Durex’s initiative is being supported by four organizations dedicated to AIDS and HIV awareness, including MTV’s Staying Alive foundation.

The campaign has its skeptics. “It’s possible this letter could be seen by Unicode, but it wouldn’t influence any decision on the matter,” said Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge.

He added that brands are “baffled” by Unicode Consortium’s process, saying companies can’t launch hashtag campaigns or throw money at the organization; everyone has to follow the same application process. Durex, for its part, has gone through the proper channels and should, according to Burge, “at least be considered” by Unicode.

“Whether major vendors want to include a condom on the emoji keyboards of millions of users around the globe is another matter,” he said. If approved, the earliest the condom emoji could appear on keyboards is mid-2017.

https://digiday.com/?p=177396

More in Marketing

Why Georgia-Pacific consolidated most retail media spending with seven networks after testing over 25 options

Figuring out which retail media network is worth spending on given the glut of new retail media networks can be a challenge for marketers.

Why the creator industry is setting its sights on on the small screen

As the creator economy continues to boom, creators are making their way off of mobile screens and onto the small screen.

Inside marketing’s elusive Quixote quest for digital ad transparency

Stuck in a spin cycle, marketers are grappling with the endless challenge of making tangible progress on ad transparency.