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Illustration via Max Fleishman

Forget the candidates, we vote for these presidential emoji

Now you can send your friends a *fire* Gabmoji.

 

Tess Cagle

Tech

Posted on Jun 9, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 3:31 pm CDT

If you’re feeling speechless about this year’s presidential election, have no fear. There’s now a new app that will share your feelings for you.  

Gabmoji, an emoji-inspired app, launched in the App Store today. Produced by All Things Media, the app adds both animation and sound to emoji that depict Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders, intended to bring each of the candidates to life.

The presidential emoji are actually less similar to emoji and better described as short animated videos. Once the app is downloaded, users can select a keyboard for their iPhone, much like the emoji keyboard. (When the Daily Dot attempted to download the keyboard, however, the keyboard did not load.)

Users can also view and share the various Gabmojis on the actual app. When users select a Gabmoji, the video pops up and allows the user to both preview the animation and share it with friends via text and social media feeds.

Gabmoji App

Each candidate has their own collection of animated videos. In Sanders’s collection, you can tell a friend “Ben and Jerrys in every fridge!” or “greed is not good”—in Sanders’s voice. Clinton’s Gabmojis say things like “did I win yet?” and Trump’s say iconic statements like “I will build a great wall.”

Amy Ludlow, director of business development and strategy at All Things Media, told the Daily Dot that the company plans to expand the app, first with a weekly new batch of quotes for each candidate and later with new characters, such as candidate spouses and vice presidential candidates. The app was launched with a focus on politics but will soon incorporate other popular culture producers and celebrities.

“Every single week we’re going to be collecting quotes,” Ludlow said. “It has to be very current. We want people to hear something on the radio and say ‘I wish I had a Gabmoji to send to my friend who hates Trump.’” 

All Things Media Managing Director Rob Spierenburg said in a press release that the app will provide “endless opportunities to elevate the fun and the volume of social sharing.”

Spierenburg added in the release that Gabmojis enhance communication. “You no longer have to guess what your friends mean with their cryptic series of emoji images,” he said. “Gabmojis will tell you because they speak for themselves.”  

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*First Published: Jun 9, 2016, 7:09 pm CDT