(Mr) Potato Head launches gender neutral rebrand

American toy producer Hasbro has officially renamed its world-renown toy Mr Potato Head, one of the main characters in Pixar animation Toy Story, to Potato Head, in an attempt to be more inclusive and gender-neutral.

Hasbro assures consumers that while the brand name and logo are dropping the ‘Mr,’ the Mr and Mrs Potato Head characters are staying. To further strengthen its inclusive brand positioning, Hasbro will launch the ‘Create your Potato Head family,’ this autumn, celebrating the many faces of families and allowing kids to image their own potato Head family with two large potato bodies, one small potato body and 42 accessories.  

“The possibilities to create your own families are endless with mixing and mashing all the parts and pieces,” says Hasbro.

The rebrand has sparked a big controversy on Twitter, with more conservative accusing the brand of a bad PR stunt to be more ‘woke.’ “Mr’s Potato Head has also been killed off. She will be replaced by an asexual can of Pringles,” Ben Shapiro, right-wing commentator and former Breitbart editor, tweeted.

Liberals, on the other hand, congratulate the brand on becoming more inclusive an keeping up with the times. "This ain't new. This ain't cancel culture. This is business recognizing the evolution of a marketplace and appealing to a wider audience," comments Morris W. O'Kelly, a radio and television commentator, on Twitter.