Woke Potatoes and Trans Acceptance Cookies

Hasbro announced yesterday that they would be taking part in an effort to be more “gender neutral” by taking the “Mr.” out of the “Mr. Potato Head” brand.
 

Mr. Potato Head is no longer a mister. Hasbro, the company that makes the potato-shaped plastic toy, is giving the spud a gender neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year. https://t.co/yUAO4bVYG0

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 25, 2021

Notice the AP’s tweet, as the original press release was not extremely clear. Hasbro’s original announcement appeared to signal that your child would just be able to get a “Potato Head” instead of a “Mr. Potato Head” (and, I’m assuming, Mrs. Potato Head). They eventually had to clarify because there was so much confusion.
 

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

The most charitable translation of this is “We, a not-very-diverse group of company suits figured we’d hop in on the frequent public political discussions and controversy surrounding trans issues.” There was a lot of confusion online as people left, right, and center asked “Uh… why?”

I, for one, think they really missed an opportunity by not rebranding as “Potatx” as a shoutout to the progressive use of “Latinx” to describe Hispanic-Americans — a term, by the way, that Hispanic-Americans don’t actually seem to get behind.

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