South Park's Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo helped pave the way for the poop emoji's popularity

Mel Magazine

The modern poop emoji "clearly owes a debt to Japan’s own long history of toilet humor, including a 1980s manga and anime series called Dr. Slump, which featured several poop-based characters depicted in the soft-serve ice cream shape," says Miles Klee. "But just as this franchise borrowed and parodied American tropes and scenes, Mr. Hankey’s influence has been retroactively applied to the Japan-produced poop emoji. Many Americans associate his happy, carefree expression with that of the South Park standby, and if you’re communicating on Slack, for example, 'hankey' is the text shortcut for the graphic. It’s easy to find poo emoji products with the Santa hat, too."