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Little Girl Named Isis Denied Personalized Jar Of Nutella For Moniker’s Link To Terrorists

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 04:38 PST, Nov 30, 2015

When Aussie mom Heather Taylor named her 5-year-old daughter Isis, the horrifying terrorist group alternately known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh wasn’t yet a household term now associated with mass death, torture, beheadings, and brutal rape.

But even though little Isis is not affiliated with ISIS, and her name is actually an homage to the Egyptian goddess Isis, who is honored as a friend to the disadvantaged, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A department store in New South Wales didn’t care about the true inspiration behind Isis’ name and neither did the maker of Nutella. The unfortunate child had her name sullied once again after the company banned her from getting her own personalized jar of the yummy chocolate hazelnut spread.

It all happened when the little girl’s aunt headed to a Myer department store looking to purchase five personalized jars of Nutella for Isis and her older brother, Odhinn (named after the Norse god, by the way).

At the time, Nutella was running a campaign in Australia — since ended — called “Make Me Yours,” which let people put their names on the jars, the Huffington Post added.

Both Isis and Odhinn were flagged as problematic by the computer, and after some pushing, the store manager agreed to let the Norse god through — but not the Egyptian one. Flagging the kid’s name as insensitive, the manager told Taylor’s sister to speak to the company that owns Nutella.

And she did. Ferrero Chief Executive Craig Barker personally called Taylor immediately, but wouldn’t budge either. He said the label was refused because of its association with terrorism, making it far too sensitive in nature. Taylor wasn’t happy.

“I’m really quite upset by this. 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.”

In a full statement defending its decision, Nutella said, “The aim of the campaign is to give fans of Nutella the chance to personalise their favourite hazelnut spread in a fun and joyful way. Like all campaigns, there needs to be consistency in the way terms and conditions are applied. 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.”

Heather doesn’t buy it. While she admitted that emblazoning “Hitler” on a jar of Nutella is obviously inappropriate and insensitive, the same logic doesn’t apply to her child because she was named before the rise of ISIS.

And the name Isis needs to be reclaimed. The terrorist group, she added, should be called Daesh, and Nutella is supporting the incorrect name — ISIS — by denying her daughter a customized jar of their spread.

DAESH is the transliteration of an Arabic acronym (‘al-dowla al-islaamiyya fii-il-i’raaq wa-ash-shaam’), which are the same words that make up the acronym ISIS. The word Daesh can also be interpreted from Arabic as “to trample down and crush,” but also “bigot,” and ISIS is none too fond of the term.

The group has seized territory in Syria and Iraq and most recently took credit for the terrorist attacks in Paris. Their methods of rape, torture, beheading, and murder have been well-documented, which is enough to convince Heather to stop saying her daughter’s name in public.

“I am starting to get to the point where I don’t want to call her name out. Because she’s going to start noticing people looking.”

Despite the Isis’s negative connotation and the Nutella controversy, she doesn’t plan to change it. Do you think she should?

[Photo By Rob Hainer/Shutterstock]

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