Jeep, liberated from Apple emoji, celebrates with new campaign

Jeep, which fiercely protects its trademarked name, is celebrating the demotion of an emoji that it says falsely represented the all-terrain vehicle.

Until Apple’s most recent iOS update, iPhone users typing the word “Jeep” in a text would see an auto-populated emoji of a boxy blue car. This did not sit well inside the automaker, which referred to the emoji as “imposter Jeep.” But with Apple’s newest iOS update, the connection between “Jeep” and the emoji has been removed; it still appears when generic phrases like “SUV” and “car” and “automobile” are typed.

Jeep is now seizing on the victory with a lighthearted social media campaign by Huge Detroit called “#ThisIsNotJeep.” On its Twitter and Instagram channels the brand is imagining the frustration Jeep enthusiasts got when the pesky rogue emoji appeared.

Jeep did not formally lobby Apple to be de-linked from the emoji, according to a brand spokesperson. Apple representatives did not immediately return emails for comment.

“The Jeep brand is opposed to this emoji being connected with its name and we’re happy the association has been removed from the latest iOS update,” Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, said in a statement. “We’re good-natured-ly celebrating its demise with our owners and fans through this social media campaign, while firmly making it known that any SUV that does not carry the Jeep brand name cannot pass itself off as one of our vehicles.”

This article was originally published by Google.com. Read the original article here.