Tesco has said it is “committed to diversity” after releasing a gender-neutral children’s birthday card.
The supermarket stocked its shelves with a card which featured a rainbow design on the front with the words “for our wonderful child”. It was initially praised for its “gender-neutral” birthday card and design, however, after one shopper shared the card in a Facebook group to say they had “found this gender-neutral card in Tesco today”, a debate was sparked among parents.
Some were quick to applaud Tesco for its card, including one shopper who said: "Well done Tesco for living in the modern world, some of us have moved on from the dark ages." While another said: "Something for everyone, as life should be." But not everyone was as impressed with the card, with many reacting with laughing emojis and “ignorant” comments, sparking the admins of the group to turn the comments off.
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Others responded to the negativity, with one saying: "The card is lovely. If you cannot accept your child for who they are you shouldn’t have kids. If you have an issue with this card you’re the problem in this world." Echoing a similar sentiment, another user added: "Wow the hate in these comments, some people are LGBTQ+ . Get. Over. It."
After the mix-response, the ECHO reached out to Tesco and a spokesperson from the company said: “We are committed to diversity in our Greeting card range to allow customers from different backgrounds, cultures and families to celebrate the events that are important to them.”
Within Tesco’s seasonal greeting card ranges, they aim to include a mixture of LGBTQ+, ethnicity and disabilities as well as non-core captions. In their Mother’s Day range, card captions vary from “like a mum”, and “step mum” to “Dad” and “to my mums” to cover same-sex relationships.
The retail company works with their own diversity and inclusion colleague networks to ensure its card range reflects the different backgrounds, cultures and families of its customers. Tesco confirmed it is always “exploring new designs and concepts” for its cards.
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