WhatsApp emoticons get a diversity make over – but should they ?
The world is not made up of one nation, one skin-colour, one-race, one-religion and it seems that WhatsApp has included some diversity in their famous emoticons.
If you use the https://web.whatsapp.com/ website to connect to your WhatsApp instant messenger service, you will notice that certain emoticons now have the option of choosing different skin colour to better represent the different races of the people across the globe who use WhatsApp.
Currently, these icons are restricted tot he web service only and there is no word yet on when these will be available on the downloadable mobile phone application.
To use these new icons simply click on the emoticons and if the one you clicked on has the option, then these will open above the icon for you to select.
Here are some of the emoticons that have been given the diversity make-over:
Do race and emoticons mix ?
If there is one thing we know is that you can not please everyone. While some welcome new emoticons, there are others who say that this has opened up a new set of problems as slapping a different colour on a blue-eyed baby doesn’t make it racially correct. So companies have a real issue on their hand. On the one hand they understand that its a diverse world but on the other they dare not put cross over the line by stereotyping races and groups of people as that is a definite No-no. So a thumbs-up option going from yellow, to white to shades of black might be fine, but don’t have the man-icon with an afro !
Currently, we simply use the “yellow” emoticons of a smiley face without giving it a second thought, however with these new set of icons will we need to use the “correct colour” icons? and what happens if we want to represent a group of friends who are Asians, Black, Indians? do we need to use the “right” colours? and what if there is a mixed race family? someone is going to take offence.
so whilst I applaud WhatsApp for thinking about the world’s races, I wonder if there should be any race at all associated with emoticons in the first place. If we start with race, we know religion is next and that never ends-well…
