tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post4487914894621373317..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: Some more about Lego and girlschris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-78179980517430670042015-02-07T18:45:40.980-05:002015-02-07T18:45:40.980-05:00Yeah, you know what Lego has done successfully wit...Yeah, you know what Lego has done successfully with their advertising methods? Ensure I will think long and hard before buying from them for boys OR girls. I wonder how much revenue they've lost that way. Or how much revenue they've lost from aiming their commercials primarily, if the ones I've seen are any indication, at white people.<br /><br />Probably not enough to make the slightest dent in their sexism and racism.<br /><br />Mind, it's really hard to find kid friendly multiplayer console games sometimes, and LEGO has quite a few titles in that corner, so I end up buying from them simply due to problems of lack of competition. Grr. Maybe that's why they don't care, they feel too secure in their market.Stardusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00132286380127316140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-15767571093909680872015-02-03T09:53:41.881-05:002015-02-03T09:53:41.881-05:00Just sent you a long letter regarding "boys a...Just sent you a long letter regarding "boys are neutral, girls are special" stuff. Probably not suitable for the article. Though that's for you to judge.<br /><br />Be well, please.<br /><br />---RedcrowAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-56377498154173883242015-02-02T17:48:07.465-05:002015-02-02T17:48:07.465-05:00I see what you're saying, sorry if that wasn&#...I see what you're saying, sorry if that wasn't clear.<br /><br />It's just that even though Lego's themes led to the "girls vs normal people" situation, it didn't <i>have</i> to do that. The fact that it didn't need to be that way is something I think should be pointed out.<br /><br />Also, I know that the assumption exists that boys won't want a toy if they see girls using it, but is there evidence to back that up?<br /><br />Did connect four take a serious hit in the male market after "Pretty sneaky, sis,"?<br /><br />That commercial didn't just show the girl playing with the toy, it showed her beating the boy. (I seem to remember a whole string of commercials like that for competitive products.) Granted it actually showed a tie (boy wins one, girl wins the rematch) but the last word was the girl wins. If boys are turned off by girls merely playing, that should have made them hate it, yet I never did hear about the great connect-4 boy exodus.<br /><br />Regardless, Lego would never have to show anyone winning or losing since building crap isn't a zero sum game.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-9677588257369905592015-02-02T17:22:47.148-05:002015-02-02T17:22:47.148-05:00The reason I see these as going together is that i...The reason I see these as going together is that if you just have one product you have to sell it to everybody or you lose your market. Once you have multiple products, you can brand them for specific markets.<br /><br />(And as we still see in film marketing, there's an assumption that boys will be put off by the implication that girls might play with a toy they could be interested in. Which may have been true in the 1970s. May even be true now, though I hope not.)Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-76651611872909341472015-02-02T17:00:15.913-05:002015-02-02T17:00:15.913-05:00Moving into specialized pieces wasn't the prob...Moving into specialized pieces wasn't the problem so much as the assumption, probably made without even realizing it, that boys would be the ones using them. Where is it written that girls don't like Atlantis?<br /><br />Since when do girls not have an interest in space?<br /><br />Elizabeth Swan wanted to be a pirate when she grew up. A quick check shows that Lego did indeed licence <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i> so they could make themed sets based on Elizabeth's home movie. There was even a mini-figure of her. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that none of the ads the put out for those sets featured girls playing with them or, if by chance some ad did, it was still the case that the vast majority of ads showed boys playing with the sets.<br /><br />Sets based on a movie about a girl who wanted to be a pirate inadvertently setting into motion a series of events that would lead to an attack on Port Royal, battles with undead pirates, and the final end of the curse on Cortés. If one watches the commentary on the movie, the people who created it comment on how everything that happens in the plot is set off, directly or indirectly, by Elizabeth. My bet is that they were marketing more to "Will"s than "Elizabeth"s.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-92135569647321228102015-02-02T09:12:16.190-05:002015-02-02T09:12:16.190-05:00Lego wasn't always so bad. In the 1970s and ea...Lego wasn't always so bad. In the 1970s and early 1980s: http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/that-powerful-lego-letter-to-parents-from-the-1970s-its-real--eJ9eAn1Vug<br /><br />But the late 1970s was when they started moving away from generic bricks and into specialised pieces. <i>This</i> was the spaceship line, <i>that</i> was the castles and knights line. (See Wikipedia, "list of lego themes".) Once they'd committed to that, a "for girls as opposed to normal people" line was probably inevitable.<br /><br />And now you can get a special Lego Movie themed Lego set. Everything really is Awesome. (I have a whole lot of separate rants about that.)Firedrakenoreply@blogger.com