Why Nutella is refusing to print this girl's 'inappropriate' name on a jar
Mum of 5-year-old named Isis says her daughter is being 'discriminated against'
A mum who named her daughter Isis is furious that Nutella have refused to print her daughter's name on one of their personalised jars.
5-year-old Isis is named after the Egyptian goddess of the moon, sky, magic, love and motherhood. But the acronym ISIS is now commonly used to denote Islamic State – and Nutella refused to print the name as it would be "inappropriate".
Heather Taylor, 43, from New South Wales, Australia, took to Facebook to share her outrage at the decision.
"This negative publicity of such a beautiful name needs to stop now," she posted. "My 5-year-old is already being discriminated against through no fault of her own."
Heather tried to buy personalised jars of Nutella from a department store for both Isis and her 8-year-old son Odhinn – named after a god from Nordic mythology.
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When she tried to order the jars with the children's names on the label – both names were flagged as problematic by the in-store computer.
After some negotiation, they agreed that Odhinn was acceptable, but the store manager still refused to print 'Isis' on a label.
Myer – Australia's largest department store chain – told Heather to contact Nutella's parent company, Ferrero Australia. And Chief Executive Craig Barker personally contacted her the next day.
"I'm really quite upset by this," Heather says she 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."
But Nutella have stood by their decision not to print the name, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "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."
But it's not just the Nutella jars that are proving problematic – Isis also gets strange looks when she's out and about.
"Recently a pharmacist pointed out upon dispensing her medication, that this is not a great name to have.
"I of course disagree. [They] are choosing to refuse my daughter's name in case the public refers to it negatively.
"I am starting to get to the point where I don't want to call her name out," she said. "Because she's going to start noticing people looking."
Photos: Nutella and Shutterstock
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