Apple upgrades its bagel emoji

Remember the days when text messages consisted solely of text and not emoticons? Probably not, because emoticons (aka emoji) can be traced back to the beginnings of the internet. The first known use of the “smiley face” ASCII text emoji, :-), dates to the early 1980s. As the old cigarette advertisements that date back even farther said,  “we’ve come a long way, baby” since then. 

Now we have actual graphics for a wide variety of objects, including, of course, many foods. Everything from fruit to beverages to pizza has been added to the stable of emoji since its inception. A recent addition to the lexicon from Apple caused a bit of controversy. Earlier this year, it introduced the symbol for the bagel emoji. As people who have experience with excellent bagels (like Jenny) can attest, the symbol was…not great. 

In fact, there was such an outcry over the image that Apple felt compelled to change it. It replaced the original image – which was far too symmetrical and smooth – with a new version, which also included a schmear instead of just a naked bagel. (Who eats a bagel without anything on it?)

This isn’t the first time a food emoji has been the subject of controversy. When the cheeseburger emoticon was released, Google’s version was pilloried for its depiction that placed the cheese underneath the burger patty. The beta version of the peach emoticon also received criticism for looking too much like buttocks. 

Photo via Emojipedia.org