More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition supporting the creation a poutine emoji.
“We think it’s a cultural symbol in Quebec and Canada,” said Eliza Lafond, marketing director of Valentine, the Quebec restaurant chain that launched the petition.
“So, we think it’s time that an emoji is on our keyboard, because we cannot communicate it right, so, I think it’s something that we should be able to communicate.”
The company previously ran a similar campaign in 2019, but it was refused by the Unicode Consortium, which controls the creation of emojis.
However, Lafond thinks this time will be different.
“The popularity of poutine has continued to grow internationally and it’s now on the menu of a lot of big cities around the world. So we felt that it was the right time to submit a new proposal,” Lafond said.
Lafond adds she is encouraged by the reception to the petition, which has garnered thousands of signatures since its launch in mid-June.
The petition will run until July 31, after which the company will submit the proposal to the consortium.
