(The opposite-sex couple kissing is also among the emoji victims.) The Kookmin Ilbo smugly reported the change by quoting a Samsung Electronics rep who said the move had come in response to the “Kookmin Ilbo’s healthy concern.” The rep added, “We tried our best to reduce the ‘homosexual code.’”Īctually, the kissing emoticons aren’t completely gone the graphic illustrations - as graphic as two emoji-people kissing can be - have been replaced by more cartoonish-looking couples puckering their mouths but not touching, with a heart between each couple. On one Galaxy S8 that Korea Exposé checked, the three emoticons that show couples of different sexual orientations kissing mouth to mouth were missing. It seems that Samsung Electronics really cares about Korean culture and cultural difference. ” The anonymous Samsung rep reportedly added, “We share the feeling that we should take into consideration Korean culture since every country has cultural difference.”
GAY FLAG EMOJI LOCATION SAMSUNG INSTALL
When the Kookmin Ilbo refuted that claim, the company rep then told the paper, “We are trying hard to find out from the development team whether it’s possible to install only certain emoticons. Samsung Electronics reportedly denied at first that the company had a choice on which emoticons to install on its phones. The picture on the right highlights the emoticons depicting same-sex kisses, which have since been changed, along with the one for the opposite-sex kiss. 삭제한 것은 #동성애 를 탄압하는 일부 보수 기독교 단체에 굴복하는 정책이다 #차별하는삼성전자 는 #갤럭시s8 에 다시 동성애 이모티콘을 추가해야 한다Īn LGBT rights organization decried on Twitter Samsung Electronics’ move to change the kissing emoticons as “a policy of submission to certain conservative Christian organizations.” The picture on the left highlights some of the emoticons that the Kookmin Ilbo asserts are normalizing homosexuality. (A foundation controlled by several Protestant churches owns the paper.) The article argued that the emoticons, such as “pictures of male-male and female-female couples kissing, and of same-sex couples with children or forming families, lead to unconsciously perceive homosexuality as mainstream culture.”
GAY FLAG EMOJI LOCATION SAMSUNG UPDATE
Despite reports of minor technical defects, the reviews of the product have been positive, and pre-order sales of the S8 and S8+ have been Samsung’s highest ever.īut the S8 contains a change that most reviewers and users might not notice at first: the removal of emoticons that show couples kissing mouth to mouth, in reflection of Samsung Electronics’ squeamishness toward homosexuality.īack in March, the Kookmin Ilbo, a right-of-center South Korean newspaper, assailed Samsung Electronics for introducing in a software update of the Galaxy S7 14 emoticons that depicted same-sex relationships. The same-sex couple emojis have even become gay rights icons in and of themselves among younger people, especially now that Instagram has enabled emoji hashtagging.After the debacle of Samsung Electronics’ combusting Galaxy Note 7, the company’s latest phone - Galaxy S8 - appears to have been launched successfully. Emojis of families with same-sex parents arrived in early 2015, and an international survey conducted this year found that LGBT emojis are popular, especially in the U.S., where LGBT emojis comprise 0.13 percent of all emojis sent. But in the course of all this celebratory tweeting, Instagramming and meme-making, there has been one noticeable absence: where's the rainbow pride flag emoji?Īpple has made LGBT emojis available for the iPhone since 2012, when they introduced emoji images of female and male same-sex couples. You probably noticed a wide array of other LGBT emojis being used, too - like same-sex couples holding hands, and families headed by two moms or two dads. If you've been on Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere near your phone today, you've surely seen the wave of rainbow and rainbow heart emojis that folks are using to celebrate the historic Supreme Court decision asserting that states can no longer ban same-sex couples from marrying.