Kleenex "Mansize" tissues sold in Britain will be binned after more than 60 years on the shelves.

They will be called "Extra Large" tissues instead, after consumers had issues with the tissues, complaining that the name "Mansize" was sexist, reported British newspaper The Telegraph on Wednesday (Oct 17).

A tweet by user Lisa Hancox on Oct 10 on the issue went viral online with more than 8,000 comments and 700 retweets.

In it, she said her four-year-old son asked why the tissues were called "mansize" and if "girls, boys and mummies use them".

"I said: I don't know and yes of course. He suggests you (Kleenex) should call them 'very large tissues'. It is 2018," said the rest of her tweet.

Kleenex replied to her tweet on Oct 12, saying that recent changes were made to the Mansize branding, and to keep an eye out for the "Extra Large" tissues in shops.

A spokesman from Kimberley-Clark, which owns Kleenex, told The Telegraph that its consumer service had been registering a consistent increase in gender-related complaints about the Mansize name.

"Kimberly-Clark in no way suggests that being both soft and strong is an exclusively masculine trait, nor do we believe that the Mansize branding suggests or endorses gender inequality," said the spokesman, who added that 3.4 million people buy the Mansize tissues every year.

He then confirmed that the current Mansize product would be updated to become Kleenex Extra Large.

Kleenex was first sold in the United States in the early 1920s as a cold cream and make-up remover, and launched in Britain shortly after. The company introduced "Kleenex for Men" in 1956 with the claim that the tissues would "stay strong when wet", reported The Guardian.