The fictional town of Heartlake City is the center of the story for LEGO brands new line LEGO Friends.
The town looks like it was made with girls in mind. The construction sets are made of bright pink and pastel colors. They consist of different parts of the town where the new female mini figures live and play such as a splash pool, a beauty shop, a cafe, and even a dream house.
Yet, it isn't all sunshine and roses for the five new LEGO friends, Olivia, Mia, Andrea, Stephanie and Emma. Many parents are calling LEGO out on being overtly sexist and promoting gender-based toy marketing.
The issue has even moved offended consumers to start an on-line petition to push LEGO to commit to gender equity in marketing. The petition was launched over at change.org by SPARK activists Bailey Shoemaker Richards and Stephanie Cole.
The issue at hand seems to be that mini figures themselves are no longer the box shape characters that children have played with for so long but are thin and curvy. Many parents and health groups fear that little girls will start to form a poor body image form playing with the characters.
Others are angry that the sets come already-assembled and are not as complex to build as the gender neutral sets that have been on the market prior to the arrival of the LEGO Friends toys.
However, the Denmark-based Lego Group claims that the Friends line was a response to consumer demand and tailored to girls’ requests from years of research. The executive vice president of the privately held firm, Mads Dipper, had this to say in a statement
"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, 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."
Many parents are not buying what LEGO is selling in this statement and have taken to LEGO's Facebook page to voice their concerns. Comments on the Friends line range from excitement and support to downright anger. One female writes:
"Girls like to build, too, and this set seems to have very little building actually involved. If that is the case, what's the point of making it Lego? The dollhouse theme is good for younger girls, but why not make them as complex as the classic sets?"
She raises some reasonable questions, as do many of the concerned activists, but I'm not sure that I'm mad about the state of things in Heartlake City. I feel that if a little girl is drawn to a pink beauty salon, then, by all means, she deserves a chance to pretend to fix Mia's hair in the Butterfly Beauty Shop.
Not every girl is destined to play in the beauty shop, though, and LEGO offers plenty primary-colored gender-neutral City sets with every kid in mind. I say, if you don't like the new Friends line, then no one is forcing you to come out and play.
Do you feel that LEGO is building gender stereotypes with their new line designed for girls? Please leave your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
Jesse
2:06 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
I could see why some are up in arms about this. I mean, it's pretty lame that LEGO designed the girls' sets already-assembled. They didn't have to dumb down a complex toy for girls. However, I'm with you Leigh-if you don't like it just don't buy it.
Leigh Hewett
2:23 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
It is pretty annoying that they did that but I don't think that it would keep me from buying it for my nieces if they wanted it.
Gail Moore
3:09 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
This one seems so simple to me! If you want your daughter playing with non-gender-specific toys (primary red, blue, and yellow) just buy them! I think Lego is just building on an alternate market and that's fine! If there's a call for it, then it will succeed; if not, it won't. If your daughter wants one but you feel it is not challenging her imagination, just don't buy it! For goodness sake!
I'm sure it will be marketed really heavy come around Christmas - but in the end, it IS the parent's decision on what their children can and should not play with!
Leigh Hewett
9:22 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I think that many people in the world like to complicate simple solutions.
Erinbjenkins
6:48 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
i think it is ridiculous to be uppity about gender stereotypes. i would venture to say that most of the parents that
are upset by this ( the pink, hair salon, etc.) are at the very least, accidently pushing female stuff on their girls in some way. you sort of cant avoid it, when it comes to buying ANY toy brand. i mean, there is a boy section and a girl section in the store.
i feel like they are just making it hard on themselves. buy it all!
Leigh Hewett
9:25 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
My two boys are very aware of the gender sections in toy area. If it's pink, they won't even step down that row. It's kind of funny, it's like their kryptonite.
Scarlet Buckley
9:54 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
I agree with you, Leigh. Just buy the Lego stuff that suits you. I'm not so into the construction of all the complex Lego stuff myself. But I love that my son loves all the little intricacies. When I was little, I would have loved the new little house and all the more realistic girls. Seeing more realistic body shapes feels like a breath of fresh air.
Leigh Hewett
9:27 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I would have done a ton of chores to earn enough money to get these LEGOs made for girls when I was a child.
Linda Labbo
10:22 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
I'm sure Lego had good intentions but they missed the boat regarding how complex assembling the kits should be. Assembly of the kits should be related to age-range, not gender. Little gals should be free to explore their interests in architecture, engineering, and even construction, as well as play with beauty shops and stores.
Leigh Hewett
9:28 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I could see your take on this. Is it offensive enough to sign a petition?
Linda Labbo
10:23 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Oh yes, and we have a little 7 year old gal in the family who doesn't like playing with dolls (which is more the look of the "girl line of Lego characters). She prefers the generic block figures that have long been a staple of the Lego lines!
Meg Dure
8:29 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I for one, am so happy to be a girl. And I like girly things. Always have, always will. Something about this whole "attitude" of parents today that really bothers me.
Leigh Hewett
9:28 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I'm with you on this one, Meg.
Sharon Swanepoel
8:43 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
My daughter has pictures of my 2-year-old grandson in her high-heeled shoes yet he is as much of a boys boy as anyone could be. Can't toys sometimes just be toys, no matter how masculine or feminine they might be. It doesn't necessarily mean you are going to influence them for life. It just seems like today people really do go overboard on some of this politically correct stuff.
North Georgia Weather
9:15 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
OMG... what next. I'm sorry but what's wrong with people? Let's find fault with everything. Blame ANYONE but themselves for their own actions. I'm disgusted with idiots.
silent_e
10:06 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
My 6 year old girl, who has never been interested in Lego's before, was immediately drawn to this toy in the store. She is not a girly girl and has always played with boy and girl toys equally, but there was something about this set that appealed to her more than the other Lego sets. Apparently Lego's marketing research was accurate. I wouldn't mind buying her this toy and I'm a kick ass feminist.
Gail Moore
10:16 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Who says that kick-ass feminists can't enjoy some pink Legos? I'll bet, though I haven't seen the sets, that the Heartlake City Legos can be used in combination with the "non-gender-specific" Legos (and how do boys feel about THAT term?) to create some hugely successful and interesting Lego-Land operations!
Grant
10:41 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I think the idea is to build "Heartlake City" and then have "Tattoo'ed Barbie" wade through it like a giant ,breasty ,blond Godzilla (mini explosives and pyrotechnics sold separately )
Or maybe not.
I'm firmly with the "dont like it, dont buy it and quitcher whining crowd...
KTW
10:59 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I love the new color options. And I like new theme options. It's nice to see more sets that aren't war or blockbuster movie related. And I've always wished there were more girl Lego people. That being said - preassembled???????? LAME. I agree with a previous commenter - that should be on the basis of age, not that it's a new line or aimed at girls. If I can't get a preassembled Millenium Falcon, why a preassembled beauty shop? I'm the one who's always assembling the new Lego sets at Christmas, not my husband. And I'm not sure I like the new "more realistic" figures. That's part of the charm of Lego figures, that they are all interchangeable blocks, just with different "clothes."
Sarah Cook
11:20 am on Thursday, January 26, 2012
The only part that leaves a bad taste in my mouth is the fact that little assembly is required - did they learn nothing from Barbie who endured years of ridicule for "Math is tough, let's go shopping?" Why assume girls don't want to build?
Plus, isn't a LEGO set you don't have to assemble really just Playmobil? That's who should be most ticked off at this move by LEGO.
Erin Lashley
6:35 am on Friday, January 27, 2012
Some people have very good lives, if this is what counts as a call to arms. I could see making a snarky comment to a shopping companion if I noticed the Lego people looking different, but calling out the company as being sexist? Seems like there are other gender based problems in the world that are ahead of this one in line.
JCE
11:41 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
I love these legos for my daughter. Lego spent five years researching how girls play and I think they came up with something great and appropriate for girls. When I was young, I played with the non-gender specific legos and often made them into houses. I would have loved this set when younger. While I am a feminist, I don't believe that boys and girls do everything the same, they are different and I think it's great that lego took that into account when they designed this line specifically for girls based upon research of watching girls play. While an argument can be made that some of the gender-stereotypes may be in this toys (pink/purple and hair salon), I don't believe lego relied on these when creating these legos -- this is our world and girls go to hair salons because their mothers do. If they had a lego village for boys with a barber shop would everyone be up in arms? These sets are NOT pre-built -- you have to follow the instructions to build each one of these sets.