About

Poop Emoji (💩 ), otherwise known as the Pile of Poop Emoji, is a popular iPhone emoji image of a smiling pile of feces. It is generally used to signify bad content, either in commentary or self-deprecatingly.

Origin

The Poop Emoji was first introduced as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010.^[1] It originally looked like a literal pile of poop with flies circling above it until the update gave it a face.

Spread

The Poop Emoji was initially met with resistance. According to a history published by FastCompany,^[2] the poop emoji was initially met with resistance from Gmail, who thought it might be offensive to some users. However, the creators of Emoji, Darick Tong, Darren Lewis, Takeshi Kishimoto, and Katsuhiko "Kat" Momoi, were able to convince Gmail that it was the most useful emoji. They cite a Japanese comic character named Dr. Slump, a personified piece of fecal matter, as the inspiration for the more cute design for the poop emoji.

The poop emoji is open to interpretation. Some have taken it to look like chocolate ice cream. Its popularity was covered by Dazed Magazine,^[3] Huffington Post,^[4] and Buzzfeed,^[5] who compiled a list of ways to use the poop emoji.

The Poop Emoji has inspired lots of merchandise in the form of pillows, slippers, and more.^[6]

Frowning Poop Emoji Debate

On November 2nd, 2017, BuzzFeed^[7] reported on a debate within the Unicode Consortium, the organization in charge of emoji, about whether or not to include a "frowning poop emoji" (mockup below) in the 2018 batch of new emoji characters. Typographers Michael Everson and Andrew West are fighitng the consortium and the emoji approval process, whcih they claim has become too commercial and frivolous.

Everson, who seemed against the idea of the Poop Emoji in the first place, argued that the Poop Emoji offers no redeeming social value and could encourage bullying. He wrote in memo regarding the debate:

"Organic waste isn’t cute. It is bad enough that the [Emoji Subcommittee] came up with it, but it beggars belief that the [Unicode Technical Committee] actually approved it […] The idea that our 5 committees would sanction further cute graphic characters based on this should embarrass absolutely everyone who votes yes on such an excrescence. Will we have a CRYING PILE OF POO next? PILE OF POO WITH TONGUE STICKING OUT? PILE OF POO WITH QUESTION MARKS FOR EYES? PILE OF POO WITH KARAOKE MIC? Will we have to encode a neutral FACELESS PILE OF POO?"

Search Interest

External References

^[7] BuzzFeed – Inside The Great Poop Emoji Feud