Mx. Potato Head.
Photo: the LIFE image collection through Getty Images
Any day you decide to go online, you are risking being absorbed in some confusing niche drama that will take up precious space in your brain and distract you from your real responsibilities. Today’s edition, at least for me, involved Mr. Potato Head, who seemed to be coming out as non-binary, which provoked a very passionate reaction from conservatives. But then, as it turned out, he (them?) Maybe not? Anyway, let’s unpack.
It all started on Thursday afternoon, when AP News published a relatively limited report in detail. However, the gist seemed clear: Hasbro was announcing that Mr. Potato Head was becoming gender neutral and that the small potato would simply be known as Potato Head. In an interview with Fast Company, Kimberly Boyd, a Hasbro executive who works for the Potato Head brand, spoke about the motivation behind the change: “Culture has evolved. Children want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand exists today – with ‘Mr.’ and ‘lady’ – is limiting when it comes to gender identity and family structure. “
It sounds like a good and encouraging change, yes? Down with traditional gender norms and family structures! But do you know who strongly invests in protecting both? Conservatives, who spent the whole afternoon having an attack that a plastic potato wearing a plastic hat and plastic shoes would no longer be known as a man.
“Woke-o Haram strikes again”, conservative radio host Erick Erickson tweeted. “How soon will Toy Story have to be reissued to get rid of Mrs. Potato Head?” Another conservative radio host, Andrew Wilkow, tweeted, “Will @Hasbro change his name to Has-Cis? Has-Xim? Has-Xir? Has-Xe? ”Right-wing conspiracy theorist Mark Dice tweeted, “With this ostensible loss of a seemingly important male figure, now is the time for republican states to separate.” And Catalina Lauf, a pro-Trump conservative running for Congress, somehow managed to convince herself that the brand change was … anti-woman? “Wow … Hasbro got rid of Mrs. Potato Head like that?” Is it over there tweeted. “Between that and the destruction of women’s sport – leftist culture and political stance created the definitive war against women.”
But now, it seems, all these reactions have been in vain. A few hours after conservatives started hitting the roof with the potato news, Hasbro took the microphone and told all of us to “hold this Tot”. The company continued the conversation Twitter: “Your main spud, MR. HEAD POTATO is not going anywhere! Although it was announced today that the POTATO HEAD brand and logo are no longer ‘MR.’ I am proud to confirm that MR. & WL. POTATO HEAD is not going anywhere and will remain MR. & WL. POTATO HEAD.”
So it looks like Mr. and Mrs. Head will retain their gender signifiers after all, but will they reside under the more neutral Potato Head brand? Well, I hope everyone feels good about spending a day having a seizure over a plastic potato.