Mr. Potato Head Isn’t Going Away. Meet the New Potato Head Family.

The change to the 70-year-old brand will appear on boxes this year, the company said, but Hasbro will continue to sell Mr. Potato Head, which features a bushy mustache and blue pants, and Mrs. Potato head with a pink purse and red painted lips.

“While we’re renaming the Mr. Potato Head brand to Potato Head to better reflect the full line, the iconic Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters aren’t going anywhere and will remain Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head,” a spokesman said.

The new playset comes with enough parts and pieces that kids have more flexibility to shape their potato families outside of traditional norms, said Kimberly Boyd, a Hasbro senior vice president.

“It only felt right to ensure that we were creating a canvas that allowed for kids to mix and match and create a potato family that was reflective of their own,” Ms. Boyd said.

“Potatoes don’t represent any specific race or culture,” she added. “They’re potatoes.”

The change was reported earlier by Fast Company.

Several companies have retooled classic brands in an effort to adapt to shifting attitudes toward diversity. Rival Mattel Inc. introduced new sizes and ethnicities to its Barbie dolls over the years to combat criticism that the traditional tall, slim and blonde version was out of touch with children and set an unrealistic standard of beauty. Mattel also introduced what it called a “gender inclusive” doll line in 2019.

“We’ve seen some gender-fluid dolls in Mattel’s newest line,” said Chris Bensch, vice president of collections at the Strong National Museum of Play, which houses the National Toy Hall of Fame. “This is sort of the first, that I’m aware of, legacy toy that has made this transition.”

Mr. Bensch didn’t have a Mr. Potato Head as a child, but he had one sitting on his office cabinet Thursday. He said the toy had gone through many iterations over the years but one was clearly in response to cultural changes. Mr. Potato Head used to come with a pipe but “he gave that up as people became newly aware that perhaps they didn’t want to encourage their children to smoke,” he said.

Since its debut in 1952, the toy has been a trailblazer. It was the first toy to be advertised on television, according to the National Toy Hall of Fame. It also broke ground because the commercial targeted the children who played with it, rather than the parents who purchased it.

Mr. Potato Head was created by George Lerner, an inventor who designed a set of silly face parts as bonuses for cereal-box promotions. The Hassenfeld brothers, the founders of Hasbro, acquired it in 1952.

A Mrs. Potato Head came the next year, followed by brother Spud and sister Yam. It was the only licensed toy featured in the popular “Toy Story” film series, with the late comedian Don Rickles providing the character’s voice.

Some conservative lawmakers took to social media to criticize Hasbro’s change. “Cancel culture strikes again!,” Rep. Debbie Lesko, an Arizona Republican, wrote on Twitter. “What’s next on the woke left’s quest to ruin childhoods?”

Mr. Bensch said he welcomed the move. “If we can make toys that give kids the capacity to take control of the story, they play the way they want to, and that’s great,” he said.

Write to Inti Pacheco at [email protected]