Hasbro is making news headlines today after they’ve announced that their decision to drop the “Mr.” from the decades old Mr. Potato Head brand name.
The reasoning behind this, according to Hasbro Senior Vice President and General Manager, Kimberly Boyd, is so that children can “represent their own experiences.”
“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.”
When I was a kid they had “boy” and “girl” parts for you to decide how you want them to look. Plus, my husband’s favorite, the Potato Kids.
Yes, it’s all come down to gender identity of vegetables.
Now it’s important to note that Hasbro has since (after all the push back) announced that they will not be getting rid of Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head after all.
Hold that Tot – your main spud, MR. POTATO HEAD isn’t going anywhere! While it was announced today that the POTATO HEAD brand name & logo are dropping the ‘MR.’ I yam proud to confirm that MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD aren’t going anywhere and will remain MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD pic.twitter.com/6I84KrxOLQ
— Hasbro (@Hasbro) February 25, 2021
Of course they would have to keep Mr. Potato Head. Disney wouldn’t be too happy if they had to rebrand everything with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head from ‘Toy Story.’
Does this mean we need content warnings before “Toy Story” movies on Disney+ now?
I think they are saying they’re going to do more Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head under the new “Potato Head” brand along with gender neutral “kit” sets. It really isn’t that big of a deal, but why was this news to begin with? Also why does the baby look like a yam? Should it be “Tuber Heads” since yams and potatoes are both tubers. Then it call all be under the “Tuber” brand.
At the end of the day if Hasbro just changed the branding to “Potato Head” and if asked said something like “Hey we offer Mr., Mrs., Other, IP based, etc. options already and we thought calling it just “Potato Head” made the most sense” People probably wouldn’t have cared that much. Most of us thought of it as the “Potato Head” brand anyway. It’s because they tried to leverage if for media attention that it even went this crazy.
Seriously, I can’t believe I’m writing this story at all.
What do you think? Comment and let us know.
Source: Hasbro, Fast Company
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.