Does a 'gender neutral tomato' help get the message across?
Devon and Cornwall Police's use of a gender neutral tomato continues to provoke a mixed response.
Last updated 19th Oct 2020
The animated video was released to mark hate crime awareness week and shows a tomato feeling excluded from a salad bar.
It's had 135-thousand views and the force say they didn't spend any money on it as it was created by students.
Some people who've watched it say it highlights important issues, others - including a former officer - have called it 'cringingly embarrasing'.
A spokesperson for the force said: ""Raising awareness of hate crime of all types is critical to supporting the vulnerable and hard to reach parts of our communities which often struggle to engage with the police.
"Hate Crime Awareness Week has a long standing commitment to supporting these communities increasing reporting of such crimes and confidence in policing as a result.
"The cartoon was created in 2018 by students at Falmouth University who wanted to show some innovation and demonstrate the issues of hate crime in a different way to as wide an audience as possible.
"This was at no cost to Devon & Cornwall Police.
"It was shown to members of the LBGTQ+ community before it was published and received positive feedback in terms of raising awareness of the issues related to gender identity and subsequent hate crime.
"This is an emotive subject and it has provoked some significant debate on social media.
"However, the fact the issue has seen more awareness should be viewed positively and supportive to achieving a zero tolerance to hate crime in our communities."