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Emoji Makers Find Muse in a Kim: Jong-un, Not Kardashian West Emoji Maker Finds Muse in a Kim: Jong-un, Not Kardashian West
(35 minutes later)
LONDON — Kim Kardashian West faces a new challenger from the east in the battle for online emotive supremacy: “#Kimunji — The Real Kimoji,” a set of emojis that represent the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.LONDON — Kim Kardashian West faces a new challenger from the east in the battle for online emotive supremacy: “#Kimunji — The Real Kimoji,” a set of emojis that represent the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
An app of emojis based on Ms. Kardashian West, released in December and called Kimoji, allows users to send hearts, kisses and doughnuts, but also Kim with blond hair, Kim crying, Kim in a bra, and even Kim’s famous derrière. An app of emojis based on Ms. Kardashian West, released in December and called Kimoji, allows users to send hearts, kisses and doughnuts, but also Ms. Kardashian West with blond hair, crying, in a bra, and even her famous derrière.
The app proved to be highly popular and is in second place in the United States paid app chart on iTunes.The app proved to be highly popular and is in second place in the United States paid app chart on iTunes.
“The content is terrible — I imagine little kids using it,” the American designer of the Kimunji set, Ben Gillin, told the BBC, referring to Kimoji. “It’s ending up in their hands, advancing their minds in certain ways.” “The content is pretty crass — I don’t even want to mention some of the images that are on there,” said the American designer of the Kimunji set, Ben Gillin, 32, referring to Kimoji. “Lots of kids look up to the Kardashians. As far as I gather, most of the people using these are under the age of 20.”
The Kimunji set uses imagery based on the North Korean ruler, who most recently antagonized the United States and its allies with a rocket launch on Sunday, a development that was followed by reports that another senior official had been executed.The Kimunji set uses imagery based on the North Korean ruler, who most recently antagonized the United States and its allies with a rocket launch on Sunday, a development that was followed by reports that another senior official had been executed.
The set, released on Monday, allows users to send each other pictures of Kim Jong-un smiling, crying and walking, as well as rockets, North Korean flags, and a nuclear mushroom cloud. The set, released on Monday, allows people to send one another pictures of Mr. Kim smiling, crying and walking, as well as rockets, North Korean flags, and a nuclear mushroom cloud.
There is also an emoji of Dennis Rodman, the eccentric former N.B.A. star who visited North Korea in 2013 and 2014. Mr. Rodman described himself as Mr. Kim’s “friend” and sang “Happy Birthday” to the authoritarian leader before an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang, but later said, “If you don’t want me to go back there ever again, I won’t go back.” There is also an emoji of Dennis Rodman, the eccentric former N.B.A. star who visited North Korea in 2013 and 2014. Mr. Rodman described himself as Mr. Kim’s “friend” and he sang “Happy Birthday” to the authoritarian leader before an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang. But he later said, “If you don’t want me to go back there ever again, I won’t go back.”
Mr. Gillin’s creation received in three days nearly as many votes as the Kimoji app on the website Product Hunt, an online community that allows designers to post their product and get feedback from other developers. Mr. Gillin’s creation received in three days nearly as many votes as the Kimoji app on the website Product Hunt, an online community that allows designers to post their products and get feedback from other developers.
Mr. Gillin said he hoped his images would focus attention on abuses by the North Korean government, but he also wanted users to reconsider the Kardashians’ omnipresence in pop culture. “The reaction has been great, over all,” Mr. Gillin said. “There are people who are angry, who think it’s honoring Kim Jong-un, which is in no way the intent.”
“Kim Jong-un is obviously a terrible person, but in some respects what the Kimoji app is doing to society is also terrible,” he told the BBC. While the Kimunji icons mock Ms. Kardashian West’s emojis, Mr. Gillin conceived them with the more serious goal of drawing attention to the influence that comes with the Kardashians’ omnipresence in pop culture.
This is not the first time that Kim Jong-un has inspired pop culture: There is a Tumblr page dedicated to photographs of him “looking at things,” he has become an Internet meme, and he was the basis for the movie “The Interview,” a comedy about a fictional C.I.A. plot to assassinate him. “She has 60 million followers on Instagram” said Mr. Gillin, who noted that the figure dwarfs the population of North Korea. “The point of my product was to show how silly the Kim Kardashian emojis are, like holding up a mirror at the other Kimojis.”
This is not the first time that Kim Jong-un has inspired pop culture: There is a Tumblr page dedicated to photographs of him “looking at things.” He has become an Internet meme, and he was the basis for the movie “The Interview,” a comedy about a fictional C.I.A. plot to assassinate him.
The North Korean leader apparently didn’t approve and declared “war” on the film (maybe next time he can send rocket emojis).The North Korean leader apparently didn’t approve and declared “war” on the film (maybe next time he can send rocket emojis).
With the small icons increasingly being used to communicate, the emoji menu is ever expanding.With the small icons increasingly being used to communicate, the emoji menu is ever expanding.
The Unicode Consortium, the agency that regulates emojis, announced on Thursday that it was thinking of developing a new set of icons, for dumplings, chopsticks and fortune cookies. An online campaign has raised $12,478 to push the dumpling emoji.The Unicode Consortium, the agency that regulates emojis, announced on Thursday that it was thinking of developing a new set of icons, for dumplings, chopsticks and fortune cookies. An online campaign has raised $12,478 to push the dumpling emoji.
In April, the consortium released racially diverse emojis, giving users the option to choose from five different skin tones, and updated its international flags database to 257 flags.In April, the consortium released racially diverse emojis, giving users the option to choose from five different skin tones, and updated its international flags database to 257 flags.
Emojis started appearing on cellphones in Japan in the mid-1990s and were integrated into Apple’s operating system in 2011.Emojis started appearing on cellphones in Japan in the mid-1990s and were integrated into Apple’s operating system in 2011.
The Oxford Dictionary named the crying-out-laughing emoji its word of the year in 2015. In October, the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, came under question in her country’s Senate for her liberal use of emojis.The Oxford Dictionary named the crying-out-laughing emoji its word of the year in 2015. In October, the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, came under question in her country’s Senate for her liberal use of emojis.