The world ended a few weeks ago when toy company Hasbro tweeted “The POTATO HEAD brand name & logo are dropping the ‘MR.’” Mixed emotions were felt everywhere and Twitter users were angry, happy, and confused as they poured out their feelings to this decision in the comment section of the tweet. 

Some argue the name change is good because it gets rid of the gender stereotypes associated with toys. Contrarily, others argue the name change is a result of this new “woke cancel culture” and that Hasbro’s hopping on the trend just to look good. The world isn’t actually ending, however, the comments on the tweet definitely aren’t pretty. 

A lot of people are very mad. I understand and agree with both arguments, but I don’t think the brand’s name change is necessary whatsoever.

The side that’s for the name change thinks that the change allows for gender equality for those who don’t use mister in their name. Toy company Hasbro said they were ¨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.” It makes sense to be but it’s so unnecessary.

 It’s a potato. Anyone can play with it if they want to.

Even though it has “Mr.” in the name, that doesn’t mean that only boys can play with it. I’m confident everyone knows this, including most, if not all, children. I don’t believe that more girls will play with Mr. Potato Head as a result of the brand name change.

Under the pressure and backlash of the public, Hasbro has deleted a tweet stating, “Culture has evolved, 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.” I’m glad they deleted this tweet because they sound ridiculous. With Hasbro’s logic, nothing should have genders, yet they still plan on changing the name

On the other side, there’s a lot of people mad about the name change and their arguments are definitely valid. Mr. Potato head has been around since 1952, almost 60 years ago. In 2000, Mr. Potato head was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame located in Rochester, New York. 

How could you change the name of such a historic toy? If you were to ask someone to name a couple of the most popular toys of all time, they’d probably end up naming Mr. Potato Head. The toy just has so much history. 

Why change its name now? It makes close to zero sense. Twitter user “AsthmaticGuy8” responded to the tweet by saying, “With that said, I think the whole state of Idaho should be cancelled.”

At the end of the day, I couldn’t care less about the Mr. Potato Head brand name change. It doesn’t affect me and won’t affect me whatsoever. Hasbro can do whatever it wants with their brands and toys.

Yes, I don’t agree with Hasbro changing the name of the Mr. Potato Head brand, but it isn’t worth losing sleep over a toy company changing the name of a toy potato. Their reasoning for the brand name change is definitely ridiculous. The name change isn’t a big deal, but it was definitely unnecessary.