M&S renames Midget Gems after campaigner says it’s hateful towards people with dwarfism

Marks & Spencer has become the first retailer to change the name of its Midget Gems over complaints the name was hateful towards those with dwarfism.

The retailer has dropped the word ‘midget’ in favour of the rebrand ‘Mini Gems’ after a disability campaigner pointed out that the word can be ‘highly problematic’ for a variety of people. 

Dr. Erin Pritchard, a lecturer in Disability and Education at Liverpool Hope University who has achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, condemned the term ‘midget’ as a form of hate speech, pointing out that it is deeply insulting to people with the condition.

Dr. Pritchard has also called upon other UK retailers such as Tesco to rethink their branding for the popular childhood sweets, which were first manufactured by Lion Confectionary in West Yorkshire.

M&S

She told The Telegraph: “The word midget is a form of hate speech and contributes to the prejudice that people with dwarfism experience on a daily basis.

“Having spoken with various firms about the use of the word midget, it’s clear that many companies are simply unaware of just how offensive the term is, and I’ve had to explain to them why it’s such an issue.”

Dr. Pritchard added that she is ‘grateful’ to M&S for being willing to listen to the concerns of people with dwarfism and for going ahead with the rebranding.

She explained: “There was initially some reluctance, but I pointed out that if they were going to persist in naming them midget gems then why not call other sweets by similarly offensive names?”

In her recent book Disability Hate Speech, Dr. Pritchard investigates the word ‘midget’ and its origins in Victorian freak shows, saying it came into usage in the early 1800s when people with disabilities or from non-white backgrounds were treated as objects of fascination and ridicule.

The academic, who has appeared on the Channel 4 series Dating with Dwarfism, added that it is ‘truly baffling’ that retailers are still able to use ‘disablist hate speech’ to market their products.

She said: “Last October was Dwarfism Awareness Month, and I took to Twitter to tag numerous supermarkets and sweet companies in a tweet asking them when they would be removing the word midget from their products.

“Only Free from Fellows – a vegan brand – responded. At this point, M&S had already written to me stating that they would remove the name.

Peter McDermott / Geograph

“For me, this highlights the need for better awareness about just how problematic the word midget really is.”

An M&S spokesman has confirmed the name change, saying: “We are committed to being an inclusive retailer – from how we support our colleagues, through to the products we offer and the way we market them to our 32 million customers.

“Following suggestions from our colleagues and the insights shared by Dr. Pritchard, we introduced new mini gem packaging last year, which has since been rolled out to all of our stores.”