Last week, the Hasbro toy company announced some, well, let鈥檚 just call it 鈥榠nteresting鈥� news surrounding one of its most well-known figures for close to 70 years.
It seems as if Mr. Potato Head has gone 鈥榞ender neutral鈥�, at least in name.
The company reported on February 25 that it was dropping the 鈥楳r.鈥� and 鈥楳rs.鈥� prefixes from the brand in an effort to make sure that 鈥渁ll feel welcome in the Potato Head world.鈥澛� Yes, that last part is an actual statement that was put out in the world.聽 Later that day, Hasbro clarified that while the husband-and-wife spuds will still exist, the branding on the boxes will simply say, 鈥淧otato Head鈥�.
The change was part of a launch that included a new "Create Your Potato Head Family" kit with two potato parents and a potato baby. 聽The video announcing the kit said it was for "modern families" and featured a variety of family makeups, including with same-sex potato parents.
Hasbro says this apparent update to the Potato Head family is all about promoting gender equality and inclusion, per a statement on their website.
I鈥檝e honestly been trying to wrap my head around this in the last few days.
I鈥檓 all for equality and inclusion because my parents raised me right and taught me respect and acceptance of my fellow human 小蓝视频s, but a plastic potato?聽 Really?聽 And you鈥檒l have to correct me if I鈥檓 wrong here because Jack and Lynda didn鈥檛 buy my brothers and I anyone from the Potato Head family (we played with real potatoes before we ate them), but isn鈥檛 the whole selling point of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head the fact that you can already change their appearance and features in the first place?聽 You can take off the guy鈥檚 mustache and hat, switch them out with the girl鈥檚 accessories and BOOM, he鈥檚 either a teenage boy or a girl, right?聽 And vice versa with the lovely Mrs. PH?聽 Take an easy-erase marker and add your own flair to either tater?聽 So, in that regard, didn鈥檛 Hasbro kind of have it right all along with this toy line?
We鈥檙e in the middle of a viral pandemic that has gripped the globe, gripped North America, gripped our country, gripped our province, and gripped our very community and neighborhoods.聽 It鈥檚 killed hundreds of thousands of people and will continue to do so in the months ahead, but not before it鈥檒l have crippled more families and friendships with its divisive elements, and it鈥檚 changed the very way we鈥檒l probably always look at the world.
It鈥檚 cool, though 鈥� we鈥檝e fixed the Potato Head family.
We鈥檙e dealing with fractured times from a political perspective as many people on both the Canadian and American sides of the fence don鈥檛 feel represented from those who hold top office.聽 Lost jobs, lost wages, and a lack of support for initiatives that might correct those things are at the forefront of many peoples鈥� minds who call both countries home.聽 All of this on top of that viral pandemic I just mentioned.
It鈥檚 cool, though 鈥� we鈥檝e fixed the Potato Head family.
People living on First Nations reserves in this country don鈥檛 have access to clean drinking water, essentially a basic human right.
It鈥檚 cool, though 鈥� we鈥檝e fixed the Potato Head family.
Public shootings and all manner of racism-fueled hate crimes continue to permeate our society with no end in sight.
It鈥檚 cool, though 鈥� we鈥檝e fixed the Potato Head family.
The truth that Hasbro鈥檚 public relations team seems to deflect from is the fact that Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head could always be whatever you wanted them to be; man, woman, boy, girl, or whatever you desired.聽 But apparently, it鈥檚 those pesky prefixes of Mr. and Mrs. that needed correcting in this day and age we live in, where we apparently have so much time on our hands that we need to retro-actively 鈥渇ix鈥� things to suit the up-and-coming generations of human 小蓝视频s.
It鈥檚 not just toys, either.聽 Our lovely 鈥渕illennial media鈥� types on social media (a crime to call them actual journalists, in my view) have so much free time that they will actually do deep scans of old TV sitcoms to point out jokes that apparently would scorch the planet if they were uttered in today鈥檚 鈥淐areful or We鈥檒l Cancel You鈥� climate.聽 Phew, I don鈥檛 know about you, friends, but I鈥檓 sure glad I鈥檓 safe from old one-liners from 鈥楩riends鈥� and 鈥楩rasier鈥�, both shows having gone off the air back in 2004 when I was still in high school.
I鈥檓 not coming at this from some harsh right-wing angle and crying, 鈥淕IVE ME NORMAL POTATO TOYS OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!鈥�.聽 Hasbro has every right to do whatever they want with their product line.聽 I just have to question this bizarre priority we seem to have where every teeny tiny thing needs to be sanitized, remodeled and bubble-wrapped in order to be accepted.聽 I get what Hasbro is doing, but it also hurts the back of my head from my eyeballs rolling back so hard.
But it鈥檚 okay, because now we all feel welcome in the Potato Head world.
Oh, and in the interest of all this blank-slate neutrality that the world wants to promote in the interest of inclusion and diversity, I should point out one more thing that hasn鈥檛 been mentioned at all:
Potatoes, be they plastic or real, have never had genitals.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
