First, there was burgergate.
Now, Silicon Valley is reckoning with another emoji apocalypse thanks to Apple’s polarizing new bagel, out in iOS 12.1 on iPhones and iPads.
The emoji depicts a plain bagel – no seeds, spread or other toppings, which sent users into an angry frenzy.
Users are criticizing Apple’s new bagel emoji, calling it ‘stale’ and more fit to be from the ‘frozen aisle from a supermarket.’ It arrived in Apple’s iOS 12.1 for iPhones and iPads
Apple’s iOS 12.1 became available for users last week, introducing emoji like a lobster, romaine lettuce and a tennis ball alongside the bagel.
It didn’t take long for the critics to emerge, as users began to complain that the bagel looked ‘stale’ or more fit to be from the ‘frozen aisle from a supermarket.’
Others said that the bagel’s extremely smooth exterior made it appear plastic.
New Yorkers took particular offense to the bagel emoji, with Pat Kiernan, morning news anchor at NY1 News tweeting: ‘You call this factory-produced bagel an emoji that stands for all bagels??? New Yorkers demand more.’
The brouhaha even attracted the Philadelphia Cream Cheese brand, which promised to start a Change.org petition to persuade Apple to introduce a version of the bagel emoji with some schmear.
The brand tweeted: ‘We think that a #BagelEmoji without cream cheese is a #SadBagel, what do you think? #ItMustBeThePhilly.’
Philadelphia started a Change.org petition that, by Monday afternoon, had received 1,005 out of 1,500 signatures.
‘If we reach our goal of 30,000 signatures, we will be able to show Apple and the Unicode Consortium that the current dry, sad bagel emoji is unacceptable and needs to be updated to reflect the real thing—a bagel with a schmear of cream cheese,’ the brand wrote.
Another Twitter user threatened to organize a march in New York City over the bagel gaffe.
It’s unclear if Apple will add cream cheese or sesame seeds to its bagel emoji.
But as many have pointed out, emoji go through a formal process before they land on your smartphone.
The brouhaha even attracted Philadelphia Cream Cheese, which promised to start a petition to persuade Apple to introduce a version of the bagel emoji with some schmear
They’re approved by the Unicode Consortium, the body that maintains and publishes standards around emoji.
Those designs are then, typically, adopted by all the tech giants affiliated with it in uniform, like Apple and Google.
Apple also isn’t the first tech firm to get caught up in an emoji scandal.
Google faced ‘burgergate’ last year, which centered around its controversial design of the cheeseburger.
While Apple and many other tech companies designed their cheeseburger emoji with the cheese on top of the patty, Google faced scrutiny for placing the cheese beneath the burger patty.
In response to ‘burgergate’, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said he would ‘drop everything’ to correct this, and now Android’s upcoming 8.1 release shows that he was good to his word – the emoji has been corrected.
While Apple and many other platforms designed their cheese burger emoji with the cheese on top of the patty, Google faced scrutiny for placing the cheese beneath the burger patty. Now, Android’s upcoming 8.1 release shows that the emoji has been corrected.
The burger emoji debate was sparked at the end of October when Thomas Baekdal, an author from Denmark tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s and Google’s respective cheeseburger emojis showing the different cheese placement.
He wrote: ‘I think we need to have a discussion about how Google’s burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, while Apple puts it on top.’
The viral tweet caught the attention of CEO Sundar Pichai, who wrote in response on Sunday: ‘Will drop everything else we are doing and address on Monday:) if folks can agree on the correct way to do this!’
The exchange between Pichai and Baekdal garnered social media jokes and suggestions.
‘Just Google Image search a cheeseburger,’ tweeted one user.
These changes are featured in the beta update for developers to preview, so they could still change before Android 8.1 is released.
As seen on Emojipedia , Google is the only tech company that offers a cheeseburger emoji with cheese below the patty. Apple, Facebook, Samsung and others all place the cheese on top
Another wrote: ‘So proud to work at a company which has it’s priorities right.’
‘Cheese misplacement is clearly the result of not enough diversity on the emoji team. Damn those vegetarians,’ one user joked.
As seen on Emojipedia, Google is the only tech company that offers a cheeseburger emoji with cheese below the patty.
Apple, Facebook, Samsung and others all place the cheese on top.
THE ‘BURGEGATE’ EMOJI DEBATE
The burger emoji debate was sparked at the end of October when Thomas Baekdal, an author from Denmark tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s and Google’s respective cheeseburger emojis showing the different cheese placement.
He wrote: ‘I think we need to have a discussion about how Google’s burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, while Apple puts it on top.’
The viral tweet caught the attention of CEO Sundar Pichai, who wrote in response on Sunday: ‘Will drop everything else we are doing and address on Monday:) if folks can agree on the correct way to do this!’
The burger emoji debate was sparked at the end of October when Thomas Baekdal, an author from Denmark tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s and Google’s respective cheeseburger emojis showing the different cheese placement