Kleenex rebrands "mansize" tissues after complaints of sexism

LONDON — Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark says it will re-brand its "Mansize" tissues after consumers complained the name was sexist.

The company said that following a "consistent increase of complaints on gender concern" the product will now be called "Kleenex Extra Large." Packages for the tissues describe them as "confidently strong" and "comfortingly soft."

Kimberly-Clark told Britain's Daily Telegraph on Thursday that it in "no way suggests" that being both soft and strong was "an exclusively masculine trait, nor do we believe that the Mansize branding suggests or endorses gender inequality.

"Thanks to recent feedback we are now rebranding our Mansize tissues to Kleenex Extra Large," the company said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "Consumers may see the new name on our larger boxes in store already."

Kimberly-Clark said the product, which is sold only in the U.K., has been on store shelves for 60 years, noting that it started selling the large tissues when people commonly used cotton handkerchiefs.