The Abused Emojis were designed as adaptations of the new racially diverse iOS emoji released in the beginning of 2015. A big part of the project was generating as much publicity as possible. After releasing the app we targeted the same journalists that had written about the new iOS emoji. We developed the app for Android as well as iOS making sure it worked across different platforms, so that it could not be brushed aside as a mere publicity stunt. And we promoted the release with a grass root campaign using influential young Instagram stars.
The app quickly became a much talked about phenomenon in both local and international media. It received attention both from tech sites like the FWA, Fast Company and The Next Web, as well as mainstream media like CNN, Huffington Post and Fox News. The international attention spread to at least 30 countries including China, Thailand, India, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, Israel, Japan, Australia and South Africa. A low estimate of the media value is 14 million euros (only calculating attention in English and Swedish). In the week following the release the App became the third most downloaded free app in Swedish App Store. And most importantly the number of kids making their first contact with Bris increased by 56 %.
Emoji have quickly become almost as important as letters when kids communicate. The standard emoji range from happy to discontent. The “Abused Emojis” complemented the usual set with symbols for kids being bullied, beaten or having dark thoughts. Apart from being an actual tool for communication, the app is a way to reach kids with an important message: If you experience bad stuff you should talk to someone about it. Bris is a Swedish NGO running a national helpline for kids. A big problem is that when kids experience bad stuff, they shut up about it. We wanted to say – in a way that kids could intuitively understand – that regardless of the issues it’s always a good thing to tell someone.