Emoticon family needs safe sex cousin

03 December 2015 - 02:05 By Reuters

Is it time for an official safe-sex emoji? Condom maker Durex says so and presented a submission on Tuesday, World Aids Day, to get coding consortium Unicode to adopt one.In the run-up to the day - designed to unite people around the world in the fight against HIV-Aids - Durex launched a social media campaign "to create the first official safe-sex emoji", asking users to use #condomemoji.In an age of smartphones and tablets, emoticons, the small icons that are used to express emotions or physical things, are "crucial" to how young couples communicate, Durex said.Citing its own research, the company said about 80% of 16- to 25-year-olds found it easier to express themselves with emojis.About 84% felt more comfortable using icons when talking about sex, Durex added.The condom company said it was sending the submission to Unicode following "resounding global support" for the campaign.A video for the campaign showed various ways emojis are used to discuss sex, but noted the lack of one encouraging safe sex.It proposed an angled, inflated condom. ..

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