Rise.365
Hair-mojis
Challenge
Good Relations is proud to be a pro bono partner to Rise.365, a youth-led community group based in East London.
We were challenged to ignite conversations around texturism to promote hair inclusivity.
Texturism is a form of discrimination against afro-textured and coarse hair, which remains a significant problem in the UK, and something 61% of the young black or mixed-race people that Rise.365 supports have experienced personally.
Solution
We launched a campaign to change the narrative around hair inclusivity, starting with the very language we use.
Our analysis of nearly 4,000 emojis uncovered that there isn’t a single emoji to represent someone with a black or mixed-race hairstyle, showing a severe and concerning lack of representation. That's right, a filing cabinet emoji existed before a person with braids or cornrows.
Working with the young people that Rise.365 supports, we set out to create the world's first emojis for black and mixed-race hairstyles, designing four new emojis featuring black and mixed-race hairstyles; Afros, Braids, Cornrows, and Locs.
Good Relations and Rise.365 are now lobbying to make these emojis a reality - but public support is crucial. We’re encouraging the nation to Google the term ‘Afro hair’ to increase search frequency, which is a critical factor that Unicode considers when reviewing new emoji submissions.
To date, the campaign has landed agenda-setting coverage in The Guardian, Mail Online, Independent, Metro, Evening Standard, The Sun, BBC London, BBC Radio, and Reuters.
The campaign has also been endorsed by Spice Girl Mel B alongside a host of other talented black and mixed-race creators.
Please search for ‘afro hair’ to help us make Black hair emojis a reality!
