As part of their #KeepBuilding campaign, Lego has released this empowering new ad encouraging young girls to think creatively. The inspiring new commercial focuses on independence and problem solving, showing a young girl playing and building with her imagination and some truly constructive thinking.
The ad comes at a time when other companies like GoldieBlox are tailoring their messaging to young girls in a way that promotes innovation and nurtures this audience as future engineers. Lego’s new ad is perfect in tone, dismissing the gender cliches that often overwhelm the children’s toy market. While the ad feels refreshing and new, let us not forget that Lego has always been ahead of the times when it comes to depicting and respecting girls in their advertising. Remember the 1981 print ad below?
This is a great step forward, but it’s going a bit far to say that Lego has always been ahead of the times on this issue. For years their advertising has pandered to and reinforced gender stereotypes. Hopefully, this is a step back to where they were when they ran that print add
John, you are absolutely right, Lego has certainly not “always” been ahead of the marketing curve when it comes to eroding stereotypes, especially in the last decade or so (see Lego Friends). Just watch the great two-part series Feminist Frequency produced on the subject. In hindsight, using the word “always” is an over-qualifier I should have avoided. I do however think that Lego’s earlier track record of injecting gender neutrality into their ads was indeed ahead of its time. Through the late 80’s until only very recently, toy companies, including Lego, ran some horrendously misguided ads that generated a very real and stereotype driven divide that translated literally into separate toy aisles, television programming and marketing for boys and girls. Its refreshing to see this trend falling away, however, the process is terribly slow. As the father of two girls who adore Legos and prefer the multi-colored, unstructured creative side of Lego play, I can attest that the most basic form of the Lego product itself has always been gender neutral, whether the company’s marketers saw it that way or not. I’m glad to see that the brands depiction, of creativity, gender neutrality and building imagination may finally be realized once again in Lego’s advertising.
I like the commercial, but where is dad in the video?
In 2014 America, 50% of marriages currently end in divorce.
Interestingly, this is apparently not the case: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/upshot/how-we-know-the-divorce-rate-is-falling.html?rref=upshot&abt=0002&abg=0 I’ve heard it since I was a kid, and still hear it frequently now, but the divorce rate has actually been falling.
Still, that’s not a good explanation for why the dad’s not there. On the other hand, it’s a short ad that’s focusing on one small part of the girl’s life—the mom isn’t even there for very long.
A good step towards getting back on track. Now they just need to change those stupid Lego a Friends sets.
@Brett P. Agreed. Those Lego “Friends” sets are an example of blatant gender stereotyping. Shops, dog washes, pony stables, etc. we need more of this. http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/move-over-boys-lego-releases-female-scientist-playset-n172216
You might be interested in what the little girl in the 1981 ad has to say… http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/girl-famous-1981-lego-ad-has-few-things-say-about-todays-gendered-toys-155795
Why is everyone bashing the Lego friends sets? My daughter loves them… honestly she doesn’t play with them very much as she prefers art. She mostly builds them, then moves onto the next set… which is exactly what she did with her Lego City sets, her Marvel sets, her DC sets, and all the other Lego sets we have ever bought her. The Lego Friends sets appeal to her because it’s something she relates to, what’s the harm in that? She recently dismantled a few of them and made her own little Zoo.
Not everything needs to be the same across the board. You know what? Beige is boring, and it is really OK to have differences. Yes I’d like to see some more inspired locations and products, but who’s to say one of those “friends” cant “be” a scientist and your kid could pretend? You know, like we all used to do when we were kids and all the minis were yellow and blocky? When did the world decided that there needs to be walls everywhere and little bins we all need to fit in. Even more so, when did you decide to care if it did?
Try letting your kid be little weird… I promise it’s not going to hurt them… and you might actually learn something. In the meantime we should look objectively at products because there are kids out there that enjoy playing with dog walks, pony stables, and dolphins. I know mine does. The best part is that she’s just as likely to pick up her “Girly pink and purple” Nerf gun, dress up like a zombie and try to eat my brain, or maybe both. Yeah…I’m lucky, she’s pretty awesome.
I think its a start. I think the table and the maze were the only things not made with instructions.
Lego needs to remove the instructions from the box. Here is a picture of what you can make. the pieces are this box. give it a shot