Bespectacled boy, 10, starts petition calling for Apple to change its ‘horrible’, stereotypical nerd emoji

• Teddy Cottle, 10, has launched a petition calling for Apple to change the emoji
• He says the prominent front teeth give the wrong impression of glasses-wearers 

From a cheeky aubergine to a friendly smiley face, emoji now form a staple part of many of our daily conversations.

But one boy claims that urgent changes are needed to one of the most popular emoji – the ‘nerd’.

Teddy Cottle, 10, from Oxfordshire, has launched a petition calling for Apple to change the ‘offensive and insulting’ character.

He claims that the prominent front teeth give the wrong impression of glasses-wearers and suggests that a smile would be more appropriate.

‘It’s making me feel sad and upset, and if I find it offensive there’ll be thousands of people around the world that find it offensive too,’ he said. 

Teddy claims that the prominent front teeth give the wrong impression of glasses-wearers and suggests that a smile would be more appropriate

READ MORE: The 118 new EMOJI coming this year – including a lime, a shaking head, and four new gender-neutral families 

Experts from Emojipedia have revealed the draft emoji candidates up for approval by the Unicode Consortium this September

Teddy, of Peppard, says the emoji gives the wrong impression of people who wear glasses.

The bespectacled schoolboy has done his own version of the emoji, replacing the toothy grin with a small smile.

He said: ‘We want to change this – Apple are making it absolutely horrible for people wearing glasses.

‘They’re making people think we’re nerds and it’s absolutely horrible.’

He’s calling his version the genius emoji, and hopes Apple will switch to it.

‘It’s got thin lenses and thin frames, and a little smiley face instead of the horrible rabbit teeth,’ he said. 

‘I like wearing glasses because they make me see a lot better, and they look good and stylish.’

Teddy was sparked into action when he saw the offending emoji when texting his cousin, and shared his anger with his school French teacher, Lisa Baillie.

Madame Baillie helped him start the petition, first around the school, and then online.

‘I love Teddy’s inquisitive mind, and the fact he fights for what he believes in,’ she said.

‘He’s quite vocal about it but in quite a grown-up way, and I think that should be supported, encouraged and commended as well.’

For the petition, he wrote: ‘We think the nerd emoji is offensive and insulting to all those people in the world who wear glasses.

The bespectacled schoolboy has done his own version of the emoji, replacing the toothy grin with a small smile

‘It’s got thin lenses and thin frames, and a little smiley face instead of the horrible rabbit teeth,’ he said 

READ MORE: Britain’s top 10 emoji ‘icks’ revealed – so are YOU guilty of using any of these icons?

‘We think people who wear glasses are cool and we are worried that people who are getting glasses for the first time will think they are going to look like rabbits or rats.

‘We are asking you to change the name of the emoji to the genius emoji and change the design.’

Teddy says it would be ‘amazing’ if Apple took his idea on board, adding he’d be ‘so excited.’

His mother, Esme, was not entirely surprised when she heard about his campaign.

‘He has always been like that, really interested in learning, and he watches a lot of documentaries,’ she said. 

‘My husband mentioned that Teddy watches Prime Minister’s questions.

‘He is very interested in the news and current events and has a thirst for knowledge and wants to learn to understand things.

‘I think it’s amazing. He always has very strong opinions about things and I think fighting for what you believe in should be encouraged as we tend to lose this as adults.

MailOnline has contacted Apple for comment. 

For the petition, he wrote: ‘We think the nerd emoji is offensive and insulting to all those people in the world who wear glasses’

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