From the simple 'smiley face', to the 'giggling monkey' and 'honey pot'; there seems to be an emoticon for everything these days. However, Facebook has removed one of its "emojis" following a campaign from thousands of its users.
The 'feeling fat' emoticon that features on Facebook's status feature has been removed after more than 16,770 people signed a petition, to remove it.
The "Remove the 'Feeling Fat' emoticon option" petition was posted on Change.org , a free online petition tool and was set up by playwright, Catherine Weingarten, from the group 'Endangered Bodies', a campaigning group that says it challenges "the toxic culture that promotes negative body image."
The petition said that "fat is not a feeling. Fat is a natural part of our bodies, no matter their weight. And all bodies deserve to be respected and cared for."
After a response from people worldwide, Facebook responded to the petitioners on March 10th, saying that they would remove the choice from the list of options.
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"We've heard from our community that listing "feeling fat" as an option for status updates could reinforce negative body image, particularly for people struggling with eating disorders. So we're going to remove "feeling fat" from the list of options. We'll continue to listen to feedback as we think about ways to help people express themselves on Facebook," it said on the petition's page.
However, while the emoticon itself is now not available on Facebook, users however, can still type in the word "fat" as a 'feeling' on Facebook, and select an emoticon to go with it.
Weingarten told CNBC via email that she felt "so happy" and could "literally not have stopped smiling since I found out Tuesday morning about Facebook's incredible and thoughtful decision to remove the emoticon."
"For me this petition feels like a wakeup call to everyone, that you don't have to fall into that trap. Overall, I am pretty shocked and excited by the fact that Facebook and the media were taken by this story and that they believe that eating disorder awareness and body shaming are issues that are worth being discussed and seen in new ways," Weingarten added.
The ongoing campaign to fight against negative body images has been felt worldwide, across multiple social media platforms for quite some time. Last fall, lingerie brand, Victoria Secret, faced severe backlash after it released the "the perfect body" campaign, which showed lingerie models from the brand looking "perfect".
Social media went wild, with Twitter users responding with their own versions of the advert, and a petition on Change.Org, demanding an apology and amendment from more than 33,000 individuals.