Hasbro announced Thursday that the Mr. Potato Head brand will be dropping the “Mr.” from its name in an effort by the company to try to be more gender-inclusive and later assured that the Mr. and Mrs. Potato toys were not going anywhere.

Hasbro announced that they will be dropping the “Mr.” from the Potato Head brand to shift away from gender normalities, Triblive reported. Starting this fall, the name change for the toy will appear on boxes.

This move by the company provides kids with an opportunity to move away from having to create the traditional “Potato Head families” which are limited by gender, according to Fast Company.

Hasbro later released a statement assuring customers that their “Mr.” potato head toy would not be disappearing.

“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,” the company said in their statement.

This will allow for children to have the opportunity to create “Potato Head families” which include same-sex parents, or even single-sex parents, Fast Company reported. (RELATED: Kids Don’t Actually Like ‘Gendered’ Toy, Barbie-Maker Mattel Says)

“The sweet spot for the toy is two to three years old,” Kimberly Boyd, an SVP and GM with Hasbro who works specifically on branding the Potato Head toy, said. “Kids like dressing up the toy, then playing out scenarios from their life. This often takes the form of creating little potato families, because they’re learning what it means to be in a family.”

“Culture has evolved,” said Boyd. “Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently – exists- with the “Mr.” and “Mrs.” -is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.”

In the past couple of years, Hasbro has marketed and sold an assortment of Potato Head products.

Several other companies have made changes to their toys in previous years in order to be more inclusive to all types of genders and ethnicities.

Mattel, Inc., the company which produces Barbie dolls released a “Maya Angelou” Barbie doll in Jan. 2021 ahead of Black History Month.

In addition, the children’s cartoon tv show, “Thomas the Tank Engine” was given an update in 2018 which included an addition of female characters to the show, The Independent reported.

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https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/25/hasbro-dropping-mr-potato-head-gender-inclusive-neutral/