NEW YORK – Mr. Potato Head is no longer a gentleman.
Hasbro, the company that makes the potato-shaped plastic toy, announced on Thursday that it is giving the potato a new gender-neutral name: Potato Head. The change will appear in the boxes this year.
Toy manufacturers are upgrading their classic brands to appeal to today’s children. Barbie changed her blonde image and now comes in various skin tones and body shapes. Thomas the Tank Engine added more female characters. And American Girl is now selling a doll.
Hasbro said that Mr. Potato Head, which has been around for 70 years, needed a modern makeover.
The toy-making giant announced the move, as it also launched a “Create your potato head family” kit with two potato parents and a potato baby. The video announcing the kit said it was for “modern families” and featured a variety of family makeups, including with same-sex parents.
“Hasbro is ensuring that everyone feels welcome in the world of Potato Head by officially withdrawing the Mr. Potato Head brand name and logo from Mr. Potato Head to promote gender equality and inclusion,” the company said in a statement on your website.
“The name change will come with a brand new look with an extravagant color palette and more inclusive messages, along with a new product to appeal to the modern consumer,” said Hasbro.
Abandoning “Mr.” from its name it can encourage other companies not to assign gender to their toys, a trend that is already happening, said Mierzejewski. Barbie maker Mattel launched a gender neutral doll line in 2019. But Mr. Potato Head is one of the biggest brands to do so.
“It’s a potato,” said Ali Mierzejewski, editor-in-chief of the toy review site The Toy Insider. “But children like to see themselves in the toys they are playing with.”
“It is setting this new standard,” said Mierzejewski.
Mr. Potato Head first appeared on the toy scene in 1952, when he didn’t even come with a plastic potato – the children had to supply their own vegetables to stick their eyes, nose or mustache. Hasbro, which also makes Monopoly and My Little Pony, bought the brand and ended up adding a plastic potato.