Elaine Carag
The Lemi Wash My Hands campaign has been making great strides in making a universal handwashing emoji happen. As of March 17, Lemi has officially submitted the proposal to the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee alongside the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Since the campaign’s official launch on February 20, the East Asia and Pacific office of UNICEF in Bangkok, Thailand has promoted Lemi’s campaign in saying, “The development of hand hygiene-related emojis will enable health professionals to communicate more specifically regarding their discoveries and concerns in this field.”
Handwashing emoji designed in Bangkok goes global https://t.co/8E5si6jx37 #handwashing isn’t just for #corona, it’s for life 💙 thanks @twitter @lemitravel
— Caroline den Dulk (@carolinedd) March 17, 2020
That’s was quick!
— Simon Nazer (@SimonNazer) March 14, 2020
Twitter have supported calls for a handwashing emoji by using #safehands! #coronavirus #CoronaVirusUpdates #CoronaOutbreak @UNICEF_EAPRO @lemitravel https://t.co/fbXRjVg3Ie
Thank you @Twitter for creating a #handwashing emoji! And big thanks to @UNICEF_EAPRO for your excellent campaign on this. #SafeHands save lives @WHO https://t.co/ozLhyNdU1N
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) March 14, 2020
As the campaign gained ground, Twitter adopted its own version of the emoji.
.@TwitterUK have created a new emoji to encourage hand washing.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 14, 2020
Use these hashtags to generate the emoji:#handwashing#SafeHands #HandWashChallenge #WashYourHands
And share the message:
Wash your hands more often, for at least 20 seconds each time with soap.#COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/1VAFagpLC1
It has since been used to support the #SafeHands Challenge as well, demonstrated here by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus:
Thank you @Twitter for such a nice addition to our #SafeHands challenge! We @WHO love it and hope the challenge will generate videos as creative as the new #HandWashing emoji! https://t.co/JDc63u5mzu
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 13, 2020
GIPHY has also rolled out a handwashing sticker as an in-message sticker pack based on Lemi’s design:
PSA re: how to get & use handwashing emoji stickers https://t.co/PnNVyKAvIP
— John Borthwick (@Borthwick) March 22, 2020
HT @matthewmayer#safehands https://t.co/1NuTkkWpvI pic.twitter.com/Nk4OEduld1
The campaign has since been picked up by The Sun, The Daily Mail, TechSauce, and Philippine Star.
We even made it Express Pakistan!
With more and more countries closing their borders and cities locking down their communities, the fight against COVID-19 is far from over.
Below, our Chief Technology Officer Matt Mayer talks to Kavi Guppta on his radio program Mate Date aired by Australian community radio station Radio Fremantle. Listen to his interview around 50:10 onwards!
Lemi, in its own way, is taking action towards positive changes that will make a lasting impact in the years to come. We are extremely humbled to be working with organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, and CDC to make a difference globally. Stay tuned to lemiwashmyhands.org for developments on our campaign and proposal!