In Australia, one is able to purchase a personalized label for a jar of Nutella, the popular chocolate and hazelnut spread. Unless, apparently, someone is trying to purchase a label for a person named Isis. A woman in Australia found this out the hard way, when she was told that she would not be allowed to purchase a personalized jar for her five-year-old niece, Isis Taylor. Her niece was named after the Egyptian goddess, and was born years before the creation of the Islamic State.
Despite pleas to Ferrero Australia to please reconsider and print the label, the company stood firm and will not budge due to the "sensitive nature" of the name.
Myer told Ms Taylor that Nutella had a protocol for acceptable names and directed her to Nutella's parent company, Ferrero Australia.
Ferrero chief executive Craig Barker personally contacted her the next day to stand by the company's position.
"I'm really quite upset by this," Ms Taylor told him. "You are actually making my daughter's name dirty. You are choosing to refuse my daughter's name in case the public refers to it negatively."
The Nutella campaign, which allows fans of the hazelnut spread to personalise a 750 gram or one kilogram jar, was launched in September. In a statement, Ferrero Australia confirmed the label in question was not approved for printing due to its sensitive nature.
"Like all campaigns, there needs to be consistency in the way terms and conditions are applied," the company said. "Unfortunately, this has meant there have been occasions where a label has not been approved on the basis that it could have been misinterpreted by the broader community or viewed as inappropriate."
This is ridiculous. The name "Isis" dates back to over 2,000 B.C., and the Islamic State was founded in 2013. Isis Taylor was not named after the group, and it's a fairly safe assumption that her mother would have chosen a different name had ISIS (the group) existed in its current form during her pregnancy. This child, and thousands of other people who are named "Isis," shouldn't be punished or encouraged to change their names because a group of terrorists decided to adopt their names as their moniker. "Isis" as a name has been used for thousands of years for peaceful purposes--it should not be controversial.
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