A few hours behind the scheduled launch, it has finally made its return to Twitter. Since 8 p.m. Monday evening, the famous Gwenn ha Du has been appearing again on the social network. To bring a little Breizh touch to their timeline, Internet users must type the hashtags #EmojiBZH, #BZH or #GwennhaDu and the Breton flag appears as if by magic.
This new lobbying campaign in favor of a Breton flag emoji follows a first carried out for a month in early 2020. At the time, more than 405,000 Breton flags had flown on Twitter, making the hashtag #Emojibzh one of the topics the most commented on the blue bird network. Despite the success, Unicode, the international body responsible for validating the creation of new emojis, had rejected the Breton application at the end of 2020.
Regional flags absent from social networks
What to make a little bitter the members of the Point BZH association, which carries the project. “Several regions in the world want to have their emoji, underlines its president David Lesvenan. But with the exception of Scotland or Wales, Unicode has enabled none, displaying its embarrassment over regional flags. In the process, a campaign with the hashtag #WhatMoreDoYouNeed (What more do you want) was launched on Twitter.
“What more is needed to activate a regional flag emoji that is certain to be widely used and, what is more, is supported by the public authorities of its country? Is there a cultural bias that prevents Unicode from ignoring requests coming from Europe where citizens are attached to their territory and their regional culture? “, had then challenged the association.
“Being in the Twitter TTs during Eurovision”
A year and a half later, the Breton lobby “returns to the fight” to convince Unicode of the interest of having a Breton flag emoji. Still conducted on Twitter, “the only social network that allows you to display an emoji temporarily”, according to David Lesvenan, the campaign will run until May 19 with three key dates that will punctuate it. The launch took place on Monday for Europe Day as a nod to the Europe of the regions.
On Saturday, it should gain momentum again during the Eurovision final in which the Bretons Alvan and Ahez will participate, who will be the ambassadors of this campaign. “We hope to be in Twitter’s Trending Topics (TT) during the ceremony,” said David Lesvenan. The campaign will then continue until May 19, Saint-Yves Day, the national holiday of the Bretons.
The Breton flag will then again say goodbye to Twitter. To better reappear afterwards? “Beyond Unicode, we discuss in parallel with the major platforms which each have their own system of emojis, specifies the president of the Point BZH association. But these players only respond to strong demand. So that the Breton flag definitely lands on social networks, you know what you have to do during these ten days.