10-Year-Old Boy Starts Petition to Change 'Nerd' Emoji: 'I Think People Who Wear Glasses Are Cool'

Teddy Cottel was angry at Apple's emoji depicting someone wearing glasses with their front teeth sticking out

A 10-year-old boy in England is taking on Apple over its "nerd" emoji. 

Teddy Cottlel, of Oxfordshire, wants Apple to change the emoji, which depicts a glasses-wearing grinning face with two front teeth sticking out. 

"They're making people think we're nerds and it's absolutely horrible,” Teddy, who wears glasses, told the BBC. "It's making me feel sad and upset, and if I find it offensive there'll be thousands of people around the world that find it offensive too."

Teddy’s anger over the emoji’s depiction prompted him — with the help of teacher Lisa Baillie — to start an online petition. 

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“I think the nerd emoji is offensive and insulting to all those people in the world who wear glasses,” Teddy wrote on the petition, which is titled, "No Nerd Emoji!"

“I think people who wear glasses are cool and I am worried that people who are getting glasses for the first time will think they are going to look like rabbits or rats," he wrote. "I am asking ‘Apple’ to change the name of the emoji to the Genius Emoji and change the design to the new one I have designed below."

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Teddy’s suggested idea shows a yellow smiley face with glasses but no front teeth.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Teddy’s petition has gathered over 100 signatures. One of the people who signed the petition wrote: “I support Teddy in recognizing the misrepresentation of people who wear glasses.”

PEOPLE has reached out to the petition organizer and Apple for comment.

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Baillie commended the boy to the BBC, saying she loves "his inquisitive mind, and the fact he fights for what he believes in."

"He's quite vocal about it but in quite a grown-up way, and I think that should be supported, encouraged and commended as well," she added.

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