As reported on The Verge.
By Aaron Souppouris
On the list of things that bring joy and happiness to all men on earth, Christmas and Emoji feature very high. With that in mind, you can understand our shock to discover that Google is making a mockery of these fine institutions. In a bug report titled Santa Emoji is sad, when Santa should be jolly, one Android user reveals Google’s actions:
Please describe the problem in detail. Be sure to include:
– Steps to reproduce the problem.
1. Enable Emoji keyboard.
2. Use Emoji keyboard to type the Santa icon.
– What happened.
A Santa with a sad face appears, ruining Christmas.
– What you think the correct behavior should be.
A Santa with a jolly smile should appear, representing his unending joy he derives from gift giving; a joy he wishes to communicate to Android users during the holidays.
Further discussion also uncovered an indifferent snowman Emoji, perhaps resigned to his impermanence. The sad santa “bug” has been replicated worldwide, but the Android community has already proposed a fix, so hopefully someone will nip this issue in the bud soon. We’ve reached out to Google for comment on this matter, and will update you when we hear back.