26 February 2021 - Mr. Potato Head Brand Goes Gender Neutral
Potato Head Drops ‘Mr.’ Title to Promote Inclusivity
Natalie Oganesyan (Variety, 25/02/2021)
Mr. Potato Head will drop its courtesy title to ensure gender inclusivity and neutrality, Hasbro announced. The toy, which has been on store shelves for seven decades, will be rebranded to include a new logo, color palette and product Create Your Potato Head Family to depict modern families.
Launching this fall, the Create Your Potato Head Family will allow children to imagine and create their own Potato Head family with two potato bodies, one small potato body, 42 accessories. Each set can have up to two parents and a baby. The change in the spud’s name is to ensure toddlers can form same-sex partnerships and single-parent families.
Mr. Potato Head Brand Goes Gender Neutral in Hasbro Overhaul
Kelly Gilblom (Bloomberg, 25/02/2021)
Hasbro Inc. is dropping “mister” from the Mr. Potato Head brand to make the popular toy line gender neutral and appeal to a broader base of consumers.
The series, featuring a plastic potato with removable parts like eyeglasses, a mustache, nose and mouth, will also be more sustainably made, the company said Thursday in a presentation to investors. Last year, Hasbro said the products would be made from “plant-based plastic” and have less plastic packaging.
Hasbro backtracks on gender-neutral toy: 'Mr. Potato Head isn't going anywhere'
Judy Kurtz (The Hill, 25/02/2021)
Hasbro says it's not getting rid of the honorifics for its Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head after all, after a company executive had suggested the toymaker could move toward a gender-neutral name.
“Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists — with the 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' — is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure," Hasbro senior vice president Kimberly Boyd told Fast Company in an interview published Thursday.
The company clarified in a Thursday afternoon tweet, however, that only the brand name and logo are losing the "Mr." and the products Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head will still be on the market.
Hasbro rebranding Mr. Potato Head toy line as gender-neutral 'Potato Head,' but not renaming individual toys
Michael Bartiromo (Fox News, 25/02/2021)
Mr. Potato Head, the classic Hasbro toy brand which includes the mustachioed Mr. Potato Head and clean-shaven Mrs. Potato Head, will soon be rebranded as the gender-neutral "Potato Head" toy line.
The new branding will be reflected on packaging scheduled to debut later this year, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Hasbro says its Mr. Potato Head brand, which includes all kinds of toy tubers, is being changed simply to "Potato Head" in order to "better reflect the full line." The brand stresses, however, that neither of the individual Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head toys will be renamed.