diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
index 96470a4aec..67c80ca2d7 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
@@ -291,7 +291,13 @@ class etemplate_widget_menupopup extends etemplate_widget
 
 					if (categories::is_global($cat))
 					{
-						$s .= ' ♦';
+						static $global_marker;
+						if (is_null($global_marker))
+						{
+							// as we add options with .text(), it can't be entities, but php knows no string literals with utf-8
+							$global_marker = html_entity_decode(' ♦', ENT_NOQUOTES, 'utf-8');
+						}
+						$s .= $global_marker;
 					}
 					$options[$cat['id']] = empty($cat['description']) ? $s : array(
 						'label' => $s,