Like it or not, emoji are taking over the world, which is why now is a particularly good time to brush up on what all those hand emoji mean. Not sure where to start? Good news: To help out, the good folks over at one of your favorite pizza joints have created Domino's "emoji literacy" campaign — an ernest attempt by the chain to help grown-ups, many of whom find emoji baffling, understand how to talk to the younger generations and comprehend the vast, pictographic world around them. How does Domino's plan to accomplish this goal? Via a deck of emoji flashcards available for free to everyone that can grab them before supplies run out. Think of it as free education, available without high-interest student loans or absurd tuition, and instead of learning useless bits of trivia, students get to focus all their academic energies on what's really important: Emoji. I mean, yes, there are more important things out there than emoji — but let's look at this whole thing as a valuable way to up your communication skills.
Not only has Domino's created this fantastic resource for our parents and elders, but it has also integrated emoji into its ordering system. By simply sending a pizza emoji to the Domino's Twitter and hash-tagging it #EasyOrder, the pizza chain will first send you a DM confirming that the order saved in your Domino's profile is what you want, then send the pizza to your home address. You can also text the emoji to a Domino's number and get the same result. Just like that. Emoji-induced magic.
Domino's isn't the only company incorporating this new, visual language into its advertising, though. Check out these five other companies hopping on the emoji bandwagon as well, although they're just a few of the numerous other companies using emoji out there right now. You can bet that they will only become more and more popular as time goes on!
1. McDonald's
The fast food burger chain has had emoji billboards popping up all over the place this year, and though they're inevitably successful, they've also been prone to a little bit of vandalism.
2. PETA
Whether you love or hate this animal activism group, PETA is using emojis to redirect people's attention to animal cruelty.
3. Above the Influence
Remember those sad commercials where a girl smokes weed and her dog gets mad at her? Above the Influence, the same organization that put together those ads, is now employing emoji to speak to young people to stay off drugs and seek resources for help if needed.
4. Bud Light
Because who better to use all the beer emoji than the largest brewing companies in the United States?
5. Goldman Sachs
What is this international investment banking firm doing using emoji? Connecting with the young people that it soon plans to employ, of course.
Images: Emojiliteracy/Domino's; Officialpeta
