A glasses-wearing schoolboy is demanding that Apple change the name of the ‘nerd’ emoji.
Teddy Cottle, 10, thinks the current smiley face, which features thick-rimmed glasses and prominent teeth is offensive to people like him who wear specs.
The schoolboy has now launched a petition for the Silicon Valley-based company to change the design and name of the emoji, according to the Henley Standard.
He told the paper that he wants the teeth replaced with a smile and for it to be renamed the ‘genius’ emoji.
Teddy, who is a year five pupil at Sonning Common Primary School, Reading, has worn glasses since he was two years old.
He said: ‘First of all, I don’t like the name because I find it rather rude. A lot of people, including me, don’t like being called nerds.
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‘And then the look of it is a bit stupid because of the teeth, which are pointing and poking out and make it look a bit like a rat.
‘I think it’s saying that everybody who wears glasses is a nerd even if they don’t mind being called that. You can’t help having to wear them and you want to be like everybody else.’
Teddy was encouraged by one of his teachers to start the petition and has been helped by one of his friends.
The petition states: ‘We think the nerd emoji is offensive and insulting to all those people in the world who wear glasses.
‘We think people who wear glasses are cool and we are worried that people who are getting glasses for the first time will think they are going to look like rabbits or rats.
‘We are asking you to change the name of the emoji to the genius emoji and change the design.’
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
You can sign Teddy’s petition online here.
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