Previously, Apple’s emoji humans only came in one shade: White. Thankfully, Apple seems to have finally realized that there is such a thing as a non-white customer (in fact, there are quite a number of us), so they decided to integrate diversity into their emojis to appeal to the masses. As a result, emoji humans will have six different skin tones, there will be flags from various countries and there is even alternate family types for families with same-gender parents.
This all sounds great, right? Most people seem to appreciate Apple’s effort to be inclusive and in general, the new changes have been met with positive feedback. However, there is one major complaint that is upsetting countless people: The yellow emoji.
As Quartz points out, “There is a long racist history of using “yellow” to describe Asians” so it’s only understandable that the Asian community reacts negatively or suspiciously with these yellow emojis. Honestly, that skin tone is really only fitting for Lego people or for The Simpsons.
Asian skin tone in the new Apple emoji set is bright yellow. That seems more racist than racially diverse.
– kray kray (@krazyfrog) February 24, 2015
“We gave you a diverse variety of skin tones. Which ones are Asian? They’re the yellow ones” — apple emoji designers pic.twitter.com/3bZwzPWdoa – Hanna J Sender (@no_such_zone) February 23, 2015
Don’t understand why Asians should be thrilled to use bright yellow emojis. What are we, the ‘Bert’ race? pic.twitter.com/9eDdSCJf60
– Tim Mak (@timkmak) February 23, 2015
TIME THE F*CK OUT, APPLE IS USING YELLOWFACE FOR ASIAN EMOJI?! http://t.co/pNTLiUfLXt – GENEZUS (@eugenehu) February 24, 2015
WHAT COLOR AM I GODDAMMIT?! AM I YELLOW?”These are Apple’s new, diverse emoji http://t.co/Kqr6OEOuyx via @thenextweb” pic.twitter.com/1NqB9NpaPw
– Maddy Tabing (@madtab) February 23, 2015
Apple rolling out new racially diverse emoji! Not sure how I’m feeling about these ultra-yellow Asian emoji tho http://t.co/VhOsyoXG0p – Yurie Kwon (@_yuriekwon) February 23, 2015
Apple’s diverse emoji are finally here: http://t.co/aSfMAJSHd4 pic.twitter.com/u8X6ZppkKL
– Mashable (@mashable) February 23, 2015
Apple’s new diverse emoji are a great add- but what’s up with the Asian ones?… http://t.co/4KOZ2dVSLt via @micnews pic.twitter.com/SkLEsKElC5 – Avianne Tan (@avianneflu) February 23, 2015
Of course, Apple has tried to remedy this situation by saying the yellow emoji is not representative of Asians. Instead, it’s a default “non-human” color. Apple analyst, Rene Ritchie explained, “The yellow emoji aren’t meant to represent a skin tone. They’re default emoji yellow. Tap to hold to get one of the five skin tone choices.”
Apparently, we’re all supposed to understand that humans do not come in that shade and Apple never meant to suggest that Asians are yellow. Do you believe him? Tell us what you think.
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