M&S stick to ‘Mansize’ as Kleenex battle sexism claims
MARKS & Spencer is ready to face down the ‘feminist backlash’ that has seen Kleenex rename its Mansize brand of tissues after some customers complained it was sexist.
M&S said it as has no plans to stop using the word ‘Mansize’ on its ownbrand boxes of tissues, despite claims from some quarters that it is sexist.
Asked about the future of their Mansize brand, a spokesman for the retailer said: ‘We’re not currently planning on making any changes.’ The company behind Kleenex, Kimberly-Clark, said yesterday that their Mansize product will now be called Kleenex Extra Large.
It said it was responding to ‘a consistent increase of complaints on gender concern’.
The continued existence of Mansize tissues had prompted a number of complaints to Kimberly-Clark.
One person said online: ‘In this day and age, is it right for Kleenex to have a product that is MANsized? The world is changing – maybe they should too?’
Another wrote: ‘My fouryear-old son asked me what was written here.
‘Then he asked, why are they called Mansize? Can girls, boys & mummies use them? I said: I don’t know & yes of course.
‘He suggests you should call them “very large tissues”. It is 2018, so, Kleenex UK could you help me tell my son why they’re still called Mansize? And will you consider renaming them to Extra Large tissues? Or do women and children not need bigger tissues?’
In response to the online complaints, Kleenex, in a statement on social media, said: ‘Thank you for sharing your concern. We recently made changes to our Mansize branding and it will now be labelled as Extra Large, keep an eye out in shops.’
Consumers who had been offended by what they considered to be sexism took to social media to express their delight at the change of the tissues name.
One person wrote: ‘Yaaaaay the end of Mansize. This has annoyed me for decades!’ Another said: ‘I had a discussion with my daughter on Kleenex recently. I’ve always seen the “Mansize” thing as just old-fashioned gender inequality.’
However, there are others who were confused by the anger from those who deemed the Mansize tissues sexist.
One online user wrote: ‘Kleenex Mansize tissues to rebrand, as the name is deemed sexist. What can we add to the list... Loose Women, Manchester & Mothercare, perhaps?’
Another person took to social media to say: ‘Can’t for the life of me understand how utterly pathetic you’d have to be to get an online campaign going to get Kleenex to get rid of the ‘mansize’ name. ‘
A spokesman for Kleenex’s parent company Kimberly Clark said the firm was registering ‘a consistent increase of complaints on gender concern’.
He added: ‘Kimberly-Clark in no way suggests that being both soft and strong is an exclusively masculine trait, nor do we believe that the Mansize branding suggests or endorses gender inequality.’ He also said that the company takes customer feedback seriously, which was why it had decided to rename the product.
‘It’s just gender inequality’