Dove is calling for better representation of black hair in emojis.
Research by the Unilever-owned brand revealed that eight in ten black people in the US struggle to find an icon that accurately represents their hair.
Despite the availability of 4,000 different emojis, and a hair pick symbol, there is no character representing locs, braids, cornrows or afros.
Along with Rise.365, a community interest company, Dove is campaigning for the inclusion of four new emojis representing these natural or protective styles.
Dove is aiming to “highlight the glaring absence in our keyboards and ensure those with textured hair and protective styles see themselves reflected in digital spaces,” said Marcela Melero, Chief Growth Officer for Dove Personal Care North America and Dove Masterbrand.
The Unicode Consortium regularly updates the emojis available for use on phones including iPhone and Android.
A previous campaign for an afro hair emoji in 2019 gained 65,000 signatures, but the consortium, a not-for-profit group, said at the time the curly hair emoji was sufficient.
More than half of black people surveyed said they felt undervalued due to the lack of diverse emojis, Dove’s survey found.
A further 69% said the absence of these characters forced them to compromise when using them to represent their identity and physical characteristics.
The proposed emojis were designed by young leaders at Rise.365..
“Emojis are not just symbols – they influence how we see ourselves and each other,” said Joycelyn Buffong, founder and CEO of RISE.365.
“For too long, Black people have been excluded from digital representation, reinforcing the idea that our features and identities are an afterthought.
“This movement is about more than emojis – it is about recognition, inclusion, and ensuring that Black and mixed race hairstyles are seen, valued and celebrated everywhere, including in digital spaces.”
Dove has previously campaigned for an end to hair discrimination in the workplace, co-founding the CROWN coalition, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
It aims to pass the Crown Act – a law in the US that would protect from discrimination of race-based hairstyles in the workplace and public schools.
A separate campaign, Code My Crown, sought to educate and empower developers to make more inclusive video games.
Dove is calling on others to support the latest campaign for adding representative emojis by commenting #CodeMyCrown on an Instagram post, where it calls out the disparity of having “two types of keys” in the emoji library, but “not a single loc”.