Pickle company agrees to drop 'midget'

CRANSTON, R.I., Feb. 19 (UPI) —

A U.S. pickle maker says it has agreed to stop calling a variety of small pickles "midgets" following a complaint by a Rhode Island woman.

Chelley Martinka of Cranston began her campaign in December after she spotted a jar of Cains Kosher Dill Midgets in a supermarket, The Providence Journal reported Tuesday. Martinka has a 10-month-old daughter with dwarfism, which means she will be very short of stature.

Martinka called and wrote Gedney Foods, the Minnesota company that owns the Cains brand, created a YouTube video and launched a blog. Gedney responded by announcing plans to change the label, although the jars already bearing the Midget label will remain on store shelves.

In an email, Gedney told the Journal it is "simply doing the right thing."

Little People of America, which represents people who are under 4 feet, 10 inches, in height, considers the word midget offensive. The organization began a campaign against use of the word after it occurred several times in 2009 in an episode of "Celebrity Apprentice."