Most of you know I have two boys–no daughters. Maybe I am waaay off base with this one, I’m sure those of you with girls will let me know if I am. I subscribe to Bloomsberg Business Weekly, and last week we got this issue. It has a cover story about how Lego is developing products specifically targeted at girls. I had meant to talk about it, to see if it interested you, and then the holidays were here and I got too busy to do a post on it.
Then, a follow up article came out from Buzzfeed. That article states that some groups are upset with the pink, the blonde and the boobs. Personally, I don’t really see any boobs on her, certainly not anything to be offended by. That article also brings back a very cute and nostalgic photo from the 1970s, showing a regular girl playing with regular Legos.
The message that some groups are trying to get across to Lego is this: You don’t need pink and boobs to appeal to girls.
I get that. But most of me wants to just roll my eyes and say “Really? Now we’re mad at pink Legos?”
Because here’s the thing–every little girl I know LOVES pink and purple. Loves it, loves it, loves it, would marry it if they could. And since little girls love pink and purple, what is wrong with a marketing strategy that says “Gee, we don’t offer this product in pink, let’s try selling pink ones and see if little girls like them and our sales increase.” I guarantee you, if you held two sets of Legos in front of a young girl–one set was the usual colors, and one was pastels with pink & purple, which do you think she’s going to choose? I bet over 90% will choose the pink ones. Little kids are not known for their great decision making skills, and I’ve seen lots of kids choose an item, strictly based on what color it is. Many little girls would choose a pink and purple .22 caliber rifle over a normal-colored set of Legos, just because the gun is pink and purple.
What is wrong with admitting girls like pink? One of the messages that is on “Powered by Girl”‘s wall says something like “Tell Lego, girls deserve better.” Better than what? Better than pink Legos. Powered by Girl is one of the group’s opposing these new Legos because it reinforces stereotypes, blah blah blah. Seriously? Pink Legos? That’s your platform? Are you going to go after Leap for offering all of their items in both green and pink?
Coincidentally, I bought my 5-year-old son a pink Leap Tag Reader. Guess I didn’t look at the box closely, and when we opened it yesterday–there it was, in all it’s pinkness. I just put the batteries in it, and used it like any of the other toys. I don’t have any fears that a pink Tag reader is going to reinforce any female stereotypes on him, (or gasp! make him gay), so why should I worry about it reinforcing stereotypes if he was a girl?
Move on people, nothing to see here. Buy your Legos in whatever color your kid wants. And maybe divert some of your energy to our education system. There’s an area that could use some real passion.
I, also, am a mom of 2 boys but I have had legos all my life. In college, I used to de-stress by taking out my bucket of legos and just forget the world while building anything. In fact, those same legos are now part of my two boys lego collection.
I get the whole pink and purple girly color concept and I wouldn’t have a problem with the entire girly aspect EXCEPT for one thing:
The lego figure picture IS NOT interchangeable with the other lego mini figures.
Now that said, IF the new female mini figures (which they already have BTW) are interchangeable like the current mini figures. But the one pictured above looks more like a toy than a lego. Legos have very distinct and recognizable figures and the one pictured does not meet that expectation.
I guess that makes sense. But if it’s a separate line of Legos, rather than just a type of expander pack, then that’s dumb on their part, imo. Not because I think it’s reinforcing stereotypes, but will do nothing to help sales of Legos.
Stupid. I would also want it interchangeable. I personally think there is nothing that says “girl power” more than a girl being able to choose pink or purple is she so desires – or blue or green. I was picked on as a child buy other children for LOVING pink. As a result I hated it for years. So maybe that’s why I think it represents girl power – not being afraid to stand up and say “so what? It’s pink”. If those are boobs on her most girls would be asking for a boob job. She looks normally proportioned ot me. I think my boys would like having “girl legos” – the figure, not pink or purple. I KNOW they don’t want those already lol.
My boys have no problem with pastel Legos as they had pastel Mega Bloks including pink and purple. They built towers with pinks and purples just as often as with blues and greens.
I think we, as adults, put too much power behind colors and not just pink but all colors. As my youngest (7) says, “Pink is just light red. Ya know, red with a little white mixed in. There are no boy or girl colors. That’s absurd.”