Petition to Change Apple's Nerd Emoji

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Part of a series on Nerd Emoji. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The Petition to Change Apple's Nerd Emoji, also known as the Nerd Emoji Petition, refers to a 2023 petition that was created by a 10-yeard-old British boy named Teddy who wanted to change Apple's Nerd Emoji. The story originally broke on BBC but was quickly picked up by Twitter / X users who posted memes about the kid's proposition.

Background

Before the 10-year-old boy's 2023 petition, in October 2022, a 13-year-old girl from the U.K. called for the nerd emoji to be changed, hoping to have its glasses removed. The Daily Mail UK^[4] covered the story.

On November 29th, 2023, BBC^[1] published an article titled "Boy, 10, starts petition to get Apple to change 'nerd' glasses emoji" that centered on a 10-year-old boy named Teddy from Peppard, Oxfordshire (shown below) who believed that the nerd emoji gave the wrong impression of people who wear glasses. BBC's article also included a short video that featured Teddy and his "No Nerd Emoji" petition.

BBC tweeted^[2] about its article on November 29th, 2023, gaining roughly 5.7 million views and 1,300 likes in two days. The tweet inspired the initial slew of reactions, memes and quotes.

Online Reaction

One of the first viral reactions to the petition was a quote posted by X^[3] user @LiamUTLR on November 29th, 2023, who said, "Howling at how much he’s the spitting image of that," gaining roughly 62,000 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Later on November 29th, X^[5] user @whatwillycook quoted with, "This is just the kind of behaviour you expect from a proper little nerd," earning roughly 6,200 likes in two days (shown below, right).

On November 30th, 2023, the X^[6] account of Dexerto posted about the story, gaining roughly 54.4 million views and 102,000 likes in one day. The tweet inspired numerous viral quotes, like one posted by X^[7] user @AltHistCody on November 30th, who referenced the Potential to Do the Funniest Thing of All Time meme, gaining roughly 129,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

In a different quote shared on November 30th, 2023, X^[8] user @soIoucity wrote, "Too many tablet kids not enough 360 call of duty lobby kids," gaining roughly 9,200 likes in a day (shown below, right).