For decades Lego has advertised predominately to boys. Legos take all of their male, rowdy, destructive energy and somehow channel it into building complex models that can be taken apart and the pieces used to make anything their creative minds could think up.
Recently, Lego has introduced a new line of products, Lego Friends. This particular branch of toys is specifically targeted at girls ages 6 to 12. It features five main characters named Stephanie, Olivia, Emma, Mia, and Andrea. Each of the girls has a unique personality which is shown in their animated web series named after the toy line.
This technique, which puts toys and animated shows together, has been used countless times, not only by Lego with Ninjago and Legends of Chima, but also by countless other toy lines and their products such as Ever After High and all of the Barbie and Bratz movies. These movies and shows make kids want the toys even more. It makes them feel like they are interacting with their favorite characters and writing new stories for them. It is almost like writing fan fiction.
All of that is to say that Lego has really been trying to push this new angle of girls toys and I have to say that it is working. Legos are fun and cool for anyone, no matter their age. They are a fantastic creative medium, but since they are typically geared toward boys, girls may not feel comfortable expressing interest in playing with them. With Lego Friends the stigma is gone, and now girls have just as much right to get in and get creating as boys do.
I don't think that making Lego more gender-specific is really the best, but at least it is getting girls interested in building for play. Using Legos, and building things for fun, gives kids some of the building blocks to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers, which are currently held by a staggering male majority. If turning Legos pink and introducing cute, girly characters gets more girls interested in STEM careers, by all means, then kudos to Lego for creating a stigma free way to allow girls to explore this kind of creativity.
I can personally say that it is working. Lego Friends is all my little sisters wanted for their birthdays and helping them understand the diagrams, and putting together tree houses and sail boats was a welcome and refreshing change from helping my brothers make Lego spaceships. I think that this is a time where a toy company could seriously help to change a generation. We should keep an eye on the girls of this generation and see what kind of amazing things come from them.
