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Schmear campaign? Apple adds cream cheese to bagel emoji after uproar

Users posted on Twitter earlier this month to complain about the lackluster appearance of the bagel, with many Twitter users calling for a more appetizing design.

You can stop tweeting #SadBagel now.

Apple has released a new version of its bagel emoji in the latest update to its smartphone software, quelling some public outrage on Twitter over the controversial design.

Jeremy Burge, the chief emoji officer at Emojipedia, tweeted a look at the updated emoji on Monday.

Apple announced in an October press release that the company would be adding over 70 new emoji in an upcoming update to its mobile operating system. While a wide variety of emoji were shown in the release, the preview of the bagel emoji outraged many bagel lovers.

Users posted on Twitter earlier this month to complain about the lackluster appearance of the bagel, with many calling for a more appetizing design.

Food emoji have sparked controversy in the past, with users expressing outrage in 2017 over Google’s cheeseburger emoji. The slice of cheese was featured under the patty instead of on top, sparking beefy debates between users on what the proper imagery should be.

Other issues around emojis have touched on deeper societal and cultural topics. Representations of different races, relationships, and political views have prompted debate about how emoji are created.

Social media users weren't the only people participating in the bagel debate, as companies expressed their own stances. Cream cheese maker Philadelphia tweeted a poll asking followers if a bagel without cream cheese was a “#SadBagel.” Over 13,000 Twitter users responded, and 82 percent opted for the spread.

The massive response led Philadelphia to organize a petition to revise the emoji design on change.org, garnering more than 1,200 signatures.

“If we reach our goal of 30,000 signatures, we will be able to show Apple and the Unicode Consortium that the current dry, sad bagel emoji is unacceptable and needs to be updated to reflect the real thing — a bagel with a schmear of cream cheese,” the company stated.

The company's Twitter account changed #SadBagel to #HappyBagel when news broke on Monday that Apple had updated the emoji in response to the backlash. The updated bagel emoji featured greater detail and a cream cheese spread, a design that was widely accepted by Twitter users.

The cream cheese manufacturer expressed its gratitude in a tweet posted Tuesday, urging Apple to “DM” it for a thank you gift.

The iOS 12.1 update has no official release date yet, but users can test the new set of emoji by signing up for the Apple Beta Software Program — though not everyone was pleased with that design, either.