A reply from Lego

[ailbhe]

Dear Ailbhe,

Thanks for getting in touch with us regarding the new LEGO® Friends product line.

We know that constructive LEGO play fosters positive, lifelong skills that are valuable to any child. More boys than ever before, and many girls, are engaged with the play experience we offer, however our active household studies indicate that we have not been as successful in drawing the interest of more girls with what we currently offer. For example, of the current active LEGO households in the U.S., only 9% of them report that the primary user of the product in that household is a girl. The totals in other countries reflect a similar opportunity to appeal to more girls. We embarked on four years worth of comprehensive, global research with 3,500 girls and their moms to understand what would make LEGO play more interesting for more girls, because we want to increase the number of girls who currently try and engage with the positive benefits of the construction play pattern.

The LEGO Group is globally known for its co-creation philosophy to ensure that we deliver the best possible products and experiences. We have achieved this distinction because we have a long history of listening very carefully to the opinions and requests of our consumers, just as we are listening to the conversation that is currently taking place about LEGO Friends. We heard very clear requests from moms and girls for more details and interior building, a brighter color palette, a more realistic figure, role play opportunities and a story line that they would find interesting. The result–LEGO Friends–was made with the goal of inspiring more girls than we currently serve to try their hand at building and experience the pride of accomplishment that LEGO play fosters.

We are compelled to clarify information about what we have developed:

• Children who find the LEGO Friends theme interesting will enjoy the exact same building experience and developmental benefits as children who choose any other LEGO theme.
• LEGO Friends products do require assembly. The collection delivers the same level, scale and detail of iconic LEGO building as any other LEGO theme and products.
• Like any other set, LEGO Friends leverages the tried and true method of packing LEGO elements in bags and the exact same building instructions for which we are known.
• Pink bricks and elements have been included in LEGO sets for decades. The new colors introduced to create the LEGO Friends collection are two blues, two purples and two greens, based on global research that indicated a wish for a bolder, more vibrant color palette to create the most interesting models.
• Our marketing program for LEGO Friends mirrors the model we apply to any LEGO theme.

We want to correct any misinterpretation that LEGO Friends is our only offering for girls. This is by no means the case. We know that many girls love to build and play with the wide variety of LEGO products already available. LEGO Friends joins this global collection of products as yet another theme option from which parents may choose the best building experience for their child’s skill and interest.

We listen very carefully to the opinions and input that people share. We will continue to do so as we develop the LEGO brand to deliver the best experiences with the strongest appeal, and we will review our communications to ensure that we represent LEGO play for all children. We are proud to have developed a collection that is receiving positive feedback and reviews from parents and children who are now trying it at home, and we hope that we will engage even more girls in the skill-developing experience of LEGO play
Please get in touch if you need anything else. It's free to call our experts on 00800 5346 5555 (Monday to Friday, 8am - 5pm) or you could go to www.LEGOshop.com.

Happy building!

Daniela
LEGO Direct Consumer Services

I don't think they got my point. I didn't mention Friends at all. I mentioned the magazines, which their response doesn't. I might need to reply. I am not at all sure I want to.

Suggested response: I responded:

Dear Lego,

Thank you for your email about the LEGO Friends product line, which I did not mention when contacting you and which was not the subject of my message. Please respond about the marginalising of girls as customers. Examples include, but are not limited to:

- Separating Lego Club magazine into "regular" and "girl" versions
- Listing "girls" as a category in the shop, with no "boy" equivalent, making all other categories "not-girl" by default
- Within "girl" category, none of the most complicated or most expensive sets, not even "Tower Bridge," which has no overt gendering. I didn't expect space Lego under girls' stuff, but architecture?
- Catalogue and box images depicting strongly gendered play - no boys playing with house sets, no girls playing with, well, anything else

This is in stark contrast to the advertising from 1981 or so, showing a girl playing in an ordinary way with ordinary Lego (featured in this blog post: http://julieclawson.com/2012/01/04/what-it-is-is-beautiful/ ).

There is no reason creating a separate range of toys to increase girls' participation in the wonderful world of Lego should mean excluding them from everything else.

Give us the pink things. But let us have the other stuff too. Please.

Ailbhe

Comments

[rmc28]

Thank you for pushing this.

[mollydot]

Great response. From you, that is!

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Rrrrgh, frustrating.

[ailbhe]

I've sent a response now.

[etoile-violet.livejournal.com]

That is a *brilliant* response. You could also send them a complementary copy of Delusions Of Gender for edumacation purposes, but I wouldn't waste your money.

[ailbhe]

I sent it.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I would be most grateful if you would reply like that, and I am composing my own letter.

*sigh*

[ailbhe]

I sent it.

[snorkel-maiden.livejournal.com]

Please do send it!

[ailbhe]

I sent it.

[barakta]

Awesome response to their fail reply to you!

[ailbhe]

I sent it.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That is so STUPID of them. Their research shows that families don't buy Lego for girls; they don't seem to realise that's because they don't advertise Lego to families of girls. If they just put pictures of girls and boys on the boxes and in the ads and changed nothing else, more girls would ask for Lego and more parents, grandparents, and other toy-purchasers would buy Lego for girls.

[songster.livejournal.com]

- Separating Lego Club magazine into "regular" and "girl" versions
- Listing "girls" as a category in the shop, with no "boy" equivalent, making all other categories "not-girl" by default

I recognise the point here, but I'm not sure I agree. One can just as reasonably draw the inference that girls are "allowed" to read / play with both versions, while boys are restricted to a smaller range. Do you object to (say) the various female-only colleges in Cambridge/Oxford on the grounds that all the other colleges are (by implication) male-only? Because they aren't.

Obviously I agree that it would be better to have genderless language throughout, and that the advertising imagery is pure fail. I don't however accept the premise that providing an additional gendered "girls" option necessarily excludes them from the other kits.

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

It diverts them away from the other stuff. Relatives looking for gifts will feel safer buying from the Girls section; girls will be more drawn to something supposedly catering to them specially.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

You may be interested in this Topless Robot article from December. It sounds like you've got the form letter that goes with that particular outcry.

Also, Why I Am Trying To Like the New “Girls” Theme from The Brick Life.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

So the cutesy female lego figure carries the severed head of some anonymous lego male around with her to photo shoots? Where's her sword? I bet it's a nice big, sharp and, best of all shiny, one :)