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Abstract

s i.e. parent potatoes — Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head as well as a potato baby. The announcement continues,</p><blockquote id="579b"><p>“Launching this Fall, the CREATE YOUR POTATO HEAD FAMILY is a celebration of the many faces of families allowing kids to imagine and create their own Potato Head family with 2 large potato bodies, 1 small potato body, and 42 accessories. The possibilities to create your own families are endless with mixing and mashing all the parts and pieces.”</p></blockquote><p id="ccb8">A product that has both genders, as well as a baby, has no reason to call the actual brand with gender-specific names. So, the announcement is nicely packaged in the wording that addresses a product line alignment, vs. addressing an equality issue.</p><h1 id="3401">A Deeper Look Shows Correction of Patriarchal Bias</h1><p id="6a08">While some news reports mention the following gender-equality language also announced by the company, I didn’t find the same on the actual <a href="https://corporate.hasbro.com/en-us/articles/create_your_potato_head_family_launching_this_fall">announcement </a>— that the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mister-no-more-mr-potato-head-goes-gender-neutral-n1258877">NBC news article</a> also links to:</p><blockquote id="3a1c"><p>“Hasbro is making sure all feel welcome in the Potato Head world by officially dropping the Mr. from the Mr. Potato Head brand name and logo to promote gender equality and inclusion”</p></blockquote><p id="f2d6">However, it doesn’t take the media and the branding experts to see the real goal here.</p><h2 id="6819">The History of the Brand</h2><p id="30e9">Mr. Potato Head is a brand and toy that has a nearly 70-year history, first <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-mr-potato-head-1992311">launched in 1952</a>. Inventor and designer George Lerner conceptualized the brand and toy in 1949 and sold the rights to Hasbro for $7,000 — a significant amount back in the 1950s.</p><p id="f933">By 1953, Hasbro saw the need to give Mr. Potato Head a family and this is when Mrs. Potato Head, their children Yam and Spud were born. Soon after, the children’s friends Kate the Carrot

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, Pete the Pepper, Oscar the Orange, and Cookie Cucumber joined the family.</p><h2 id="b7eb">The Inherent, Even Unintentional Patriarchy</h2><p id="f899">We’ve lived in a patriarchal world for a very long time, and so Hasbro can’t be blamed for not giving their “branding” any thought — and it would seem natural that it is OK to know a full-fledged family by the name of the original toy, and the “head” of the family i.e. Mr. Potato.</p><p id="22ae">However, 70 years may have been already too late to acknowledge the equality issue here.</p><h2 id="4c91">However, Better Late than Never</h2><p id="c09c">Nobody has ever really, to my knowledge, criticized the vegetable potato for being a “male” brand vs. a female one — just as no one really questions why Barbies are infinitely more famous than the boyfriend Ken.</p><p id="67de">However, in a world where a branding fiasco is waiting to happen, Hasbro went front-footed and acknowledged a problem that did exist, but just hadn’t been called out.</p><p id="f6ea">Hence, came a pro-active change to POTATO HEAD — dropping the MR.</p><h1 id="4e56">The Verdict? Smart Move With Long-Term Vision</h1><p id="a604">In my mind, there are a few things that Hasbro has achieved and done right with this subtle shift.</p><ul><li><b>Proactive approach</b> — Addressed a potential future issue around equality and sexism in a world that is increasingly getting aware of inherent biases and calling them out</li><li><b>Positive media attention</b> — The media clearly saw this move as a step towards diversity and inclusion which means that the brand is seen as conscious and aware of its responsibility as a brand that is used by children and hence can be impressionable</li><li><b>Buzz for new launch</b> — The real hidden brilliance lies also in the fact that this provides a great platform and pre-launch buzz for the fall “create your potato head family” launch along with a feel-good messaging</li></ul><p id="5ef8">All-in-all, it seems like the small change in branding and messaging only has positive implications for Hasbro and should be considered a strong marketing and branding move, in my opinion!</p></article></body>

Potato Head Loses the “Mr.” in Move Towards Equality —Masterstroke or Overkill?

Why should toys have all the fun?

The Iconic Potato Head | blperk, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Making our daily conversational language more gender-inclusive and ensuring we lose any inherent biases in our everyday life has been everyone’s endeavor in a modern world that strives towards equality.

Discrimination isn’t always intentional and is mostly incidental and sub-conscious. However, a correction of such behavior more often than not needs to be intentional.

What if you’re just a toy company making simple old toys for the kids? Does that exempt you from social responsibility? Clearly not. For every Barbie, there must be a Ken. And Hasbro, the leading toy brand has signaled their intent in creating a more “welcome and equal world” rebranding their iconic brand Mr. Potato Head — by losing the “Mr.” and changing it to just “Potato Head.”

The official announcement on the Hasbro corporate website reads:

“Hasbro is officially renaming the MR. POTATO HEAD brand to POTATO HEAD to better reflect the full line. But rest assured, the iconic MR. and MRS. POTATO HEAD characters aren’t going anywhere and will remain MR. and MRS. POTATO HEAD.”

Here’s a read into the announcement from a messaging and marketing perspective.

The Guise of Showcasing the “Full Product Line”

Purely from a product perspective, this move is quite consistent with the actual Potato Head product. The toy collection actually allows the kids to form a family of potato heads i.e. parent potatoes — Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head as well as a potato baby. The announcement continues,

“Launching this Fall, the CREATE YOUR POTATO HEAD FAMILY is a celebration of the many faces of families allowing kids to imagine and create their own Potato Head family with 2 large potato bodies, 1 small potato body, and 42 accessories. The possibilities to create your own families are endless with mixing and mashing all the parts and pieces.”

A product that has both genders, as well as a baby, has no reason to call the actual brand with gender-specific names. So, the announcement is nicely packaged in the wording that addresses a product line alignment, vs. addressing an equality issue.

A Deeper Look Shows Correction of Patriarchal Bias

While some news reports mention the following gender-equality language also announced by the company, I didn’t find the same on the actual announcement — that the NBC news article also links to:

“Hasbro is making sure all feel welcome in the Potato Head world by officially dropping the Mr. from the Mr. Potato Head brand name and logo to promote gender equality and inclusion”

However, it doesn’t take the media and the branding experts to see the real goal here.

The History of the Brand

Mr. Potato Head is a brand and toy that has a nearly 70-year history, first launched in 1952. Inventor and designer George Lerner conceptualized the brand and toy in 1949 and sold the rights to Hasbro for $7,000 — a significant amount back in the 1950s.

By 1953, Hasbro saw the need to give Mr. Potato Head a family and this is when Mrs. Potato Head, their children Yam and Spud were born. Soon after, the children’s friends Kate the Carrot, Pete the Pepper, Oscar the Orange, and Cookie Cucumber joined the family.

The Inherent, Even Unintentional Patriarchy

We’ve lived in a patriarchal world for a very long time, and so Hasbro can’t be blamed for not giving their “branding” any thought — and it would seem natural that it is OK to know a full-fledged family by the name of the original toy, and the “head” of the family i.e. Mr. Potato.

However, 70 years may have been already too late to acknowledge the equality issue here.

However, Better Late than Never

Nobody has ever really, to my knowledge, criticized the vegetable potato for being a “male” brand vs. a female one — just as no one really questions why Barbies are infinitely more famous than the boyfriend Ken.

However, in a world where a branding fiasco is waiting to happen, Hasbro went front-footed and acknowledged a problem that did exist, but just hadn’t been called out.

Hence, came a pro-active change to POTATO HEAD — dropping the MR.

The Verdict? Smart Move With Long-Term Vision

In my mind, there are a few things that Hasbro has achieved and done right with this subtle shift.

Proactive approach — Addressed a potential future issue around equality and sexism in a world that is increasingly getting aware of inherent biases and calling them out
Positive media attention — The media clearly saw this move as a step towards diversity and inclusion which means that the brand is seen as conscious and aware of its responsibility as a brand that is used by children and hence can be impressionable
Buzz for new launch — The real hidden brilliance lies also in the fact that this provides a great platform and pre-launch buzz for the fall “create your potato head family” launch along with a feel-good messaging

All-in-all, it seems like the small change in branding and messaging only has positive implications for Hasbro and should be considered a strong marketing and branding move, in my opinion!