If you’ve ever been offended by a cookie, you’re not alone.
In order to avoid claims of sexism, the Scottish Parliament has decided to rename “gingerbread men” to “gingerbread persons” in its coffee shop in Holyrood. “The £1.45 iced sweet treats, on sale ahead of Christmas, featured a tag with the hand-written title ‘gingerbread person,’” reports The Sun.
Holyrood, Scotland, where Parliament is located, recently learned through research that 30% of female ministers had experienced some form of sexual harassment. It was then deemed necessary to change the classic “gingerbread man” to a less offensive non-binary character. “A tradition festive favourite with children, Holyrood will now stock gingerbread persons as part of an increased focus on gender neutrality,” according to The Irish Post.
Unfortunately, the rebrand did not go over well.
Annie Wells, Scottish Conservative Equalities spokesman, was not pleased. “Surely the Scottish Parliament has got better things to do than worry about what to call gingerbread men?” she asked. “This is an utterly pointless gesture which simply trivialises the real issues of gender equality.”
Ricky Gervais also had something to say on the matter: “Why are they ALL ginger? Racist.”
This is not the first time this year that a company had to rebrand its products to avoid being labeled sexist. In October, Waitrose, a British supermarket, came under fire for the title of one of their sandwiches: “Gentleman’s Smoked Chicken Caesar Roll.” The name of the sandwich comes from the anchovy paste inside it known as gentleman’s relish. But unfortunately, one woman was offended by the audacity of the roll’s name.
“Amy Lamé, Sadiq Khan’s London night Czar, posted an image of the product on Twitter and said: ‘I never knew sandwiches were gender specific. I’m female but thankfully Waitrose let me purchase this anyway,’” reported The Telegraph. “She tagged the organisation Everyday Sexism, who document instances of sexism experienced on a day to day basis.”
A Twitter storm soon followed, and Waitrose announced that they were changing the name of the sandwich.
It’s no wonder there’s a joke about women being in the kitchen; it seems gingerbread men and gentleman’s sandwiches are not welcome there.