Bakery baffled by backlash for selling gender-neutral ginger ‘persons’
A family-run bakery in York, north England, has been left in a state of confusion after a sudden online backlash over the shop selling gender-neutral ginger “persons” instead of gingerbread “men”—despite the name change happening back in 1983.
Thomas the Baker was targeted after pictures of the store ginger persons were uploaded onto to the internet.
The onslaught of online abuse seems to have been initiated by someone called Demii-Leigh Heffron posting a photo of the ginger persons on Facebook on October 21, which subsequently went viral.
The backlash appears to have been the result of Facebook user Demii-Leigh Heffron uploading a photograph of the ginger persons. (Demii-Leigh Heffron MainAccount/Facebook)
“It’s happening. it’s actually happening,” wrote Heffron.
“It’s 2018 . Stop the earth, I wanna get off.”
Heffron’s post has been “liked” more than 2,000 times.
Outraged Facebook users were quick to comment below Heffron’s post.
One person said: “This cannot be real. The World has gone mad!”
And another user exclaimed: “Omg the world is going mad – it’s a gingerbread MAN and always will be.”
Heffron soon found an army of supporters online, when her photo was re-posted on Twitter.
“Gingerbread men being changed to Ginger ‘persons’ people need to get a grip, most ridiculous thing I’ve seen ahahaha,” wrote one Twitter user.
The MailOnline also published a story about the viral image on Wednesday (October 24), headlined: “‘What next, Personchester?’ Bakery faces online backlash for selling ‘gender neutral’ gingerbread ‘persons'”
PinkNews phoned the bakery and spoke to a member of staff, who said the shop had been inundated with “hundreds of calls” about the ginger biscuits.
“I really don’t know what’s happened,” the employee told PinkNews.
“I’ve no idea. We’ve called them that [ginger persons] since 1983.”
The staff member said the owner was not in the shop, and so they could not comment on the backlash.
Thomas the Baker responded to the online spectacle on Twitter. (Thomas the Baker/Twitter)
However, Thomas the Baker posted about the incident on Twitter on Wednesday morning (October 24).
“Sorry to disappoint you all – they have been Ginger Persons since 1983! It was chosen by one of our Managers in York and the name stuck,” the bakery said.
“We did get a complaint from trading standards in the 80’s that we were discriminating against ginger haired people – seriously!!”
Other social media users, however, have been more justifiably angered by the pricing of the “Halloween Novelty” buns, which can bee seen above the ginger biscuits in the photo.
The buns are marked on sale as 50p for one bun, or £2 for four buns.
“Forget the ginger man person thing look at the price of the buns,” one person commented below Heffron’s post.
“If you bought 4 anyway they would be £2 so that’s no deal.”
