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[kaijyuu]

I have some faces with huge red lips, along with some long hairstyles. Several bodies with dresses/etc too. The vast majority of pieces are obviously male, though.

The basic lego figure strikes me as gender neutral. Just need more "feminine" accessories (bodies, hair, etc) to solve that problem, imo.

[Vector]

Right, exactly.  Have a fairly even balance of women and men in most playsets and show more girls playing with them on the boxes and in commercials, whatever, problem probably solved.

[ChairmanPoo]

Yeah, it was the hair that set the gender. Well, and the moustaches in some of the faces :p

Lego City had plenty of female characters. The "action" series, not so much, although I think there were some.

[fqllve]

Right, exactly.  Have a fairly even balance of women and men in most playsets and show more girls playing with them on the boxes and in commercials, whatever, problem probably solved.

Ah, but you aren't thinking like an ad exec. By which I mean to say, you're thinking.

[G-Flex]

What about the colors of the bricks themselves? I remember them being mostly "boy-friendly" colors. Yellows, reds, that sort of thing.

[ChairmanPoo]

Stupid idle question that just occured to me: would it be dignified enough for a 27 year old to buy a lego technic kit for himself?.

[Vector]

There's that; on the other hand, they also give you loads and loads of flowers.

I think it could also help to have a female voice selling some of the sets on television.  Boy ads get male voices, girl ads get female voices, but mixing and matching would probably help a hell of a lot.

Stupid idle question that just occured to me: would it be dignified enough for a 27 year old to buy a lego technic kit for himself?.

In the US, at least, yes.  They're sort of considered adult toys as well.

[Rose]

Stupid idle question that just occured to me: would it be dignified enough for a 27 year old to buy a lego technic kit for himself?.

Yes, yes, and yes.

[Truean]

Follow...the... money....

The problem is once again the parents and adults....

Sure, sometimes kids have some spending money but the overwhelming majority of toy products, legos included are bought by adults. The "care what the kids think," is mostly focused towards "is it fun to play with." However, the company is trying to market to ADULTS, to get the adults to buy for the kids.

You go after the people with the money who have the ultimate purchasing decision because if mom and dad say you can't have it or that you'd rather have something else, and steer you towards that, then ....

Adults, especially older adults are more likely to buy lego products as a gift for boys than girls. <---- This is the real problem that lego is dealing with.

Girls may like legos but if their parents (the ones with the money and purchasing decision) don't buy the product and/or steer them towards other toys, then the company doesn't make a sale. The company is basically fighting, "well those are nice but wouldn't you rather have a doll?"

Thus, the question becomes, how do we get grandma, grandpa, mom and dad to buy this for their daughters.

[Pnx]

Ignorance, it seems, is a very hard stain to erase.

[G-Flex]

Sure, sometimes kids have some spending money but the overwhelming majority of toy products, legos included are bought by adults. The "care what the kids think," is mostly focused towards "is it fun to play with." However, the company is trying to market to ADULTS, to get the adults to buy for the kids.

Hardly even matters if it's the kids buying them, since the kids haven't exactly decided on their own what is gender-normative. What a kid wants is pretty highly related, in a pretty direct sense, to what society, consumer culture, and parents want the kid to want.

[Vector]

Yeah, and I think marketing it like it's a thing girls buy would help a lot to change minds.

Lego is basically a buildable dollhouse.  You play on the teaching improved spatial skills, how it's a creative version of a classic female toy, you change up the ads like I suggested, you add a couple of more "female-oriented" lego sets under the normal brand rather then sending them to the girly ghetto, and you're probably doing a lot better already.

[Heron TSG]

Well, what a lot of ads do is make kids whine to their parents in order to get something. That's marketing, too.

[G-Flex]

Of course, the problem with blaming the parents is the same as blaming the kids: Most parents aren't very aware of gender issues themselves. They just know what they have internalized throughout their lives, especially as kids.

Yeah, and I think marketing it like it's a thing girls buy would help a lot to change minds.

Lego is basically a buildable dollhouse.  You play on the teaching improved spatial skills, how it's a creative version of a classic female toy, you change up the ads like I suggested, you add a couple of more "female-oriented" lego sets under the normal brand rather then sending them to the girly ghetto, and you're probably doing a lot better already.

I think this is a good idea. However, American corporate culture doesn't exactly like to, you know, take risks. They're basically the last place in society you're going to see veer from the status quo, socially speaking. This is unfortunate, since damn near our entire culture gets filtered through the lens of corporate interests.

[Truean]

Sure, sometimes kids have some spending money but the overwhelming majority of toy products, legos included are bought by adults. The "care what the kids think," is mostly focused towards "is it fun to play with." However, the company is trying to market to ADULTS, to get the adults to buy for the kids.

Hardly even matters if it's the kids buying them, since the kids haven't exactly decided on their own what is gender-normative. What a kid wants is pretty highly related, in a pretty direct sense, to what society, consumer culture, and parents want the kid to want.

Yes. However, I repeat, follow the money and the parent/grandparent's desires. "She would like a doll better...." <--- problem.

Yeah, and I think marketing it like it's a thing girls buy would help a lot to change minds.

Lego is basically a buildable dollhouse.  You play on the teaching improved spatial skills, how it's a creative version of a classic female toy, you change up the ads like I suggested, you add a couple of more "female-oriented" lego sets under the normal brand rather then sending them to the girly ghetto, and you're probably doing a lot better already.

I really like this idea Vector, but I'm going to assume you're aware of the possible pitfall?

Unfortunately society divides toys into "girl toys" and "boy toys," and quite often, never the two shall meet. I caught all kinds of hell from babysitters for playing with the girls and their dolls as a little kid. If they try to make it gender neutral and ... it's an insane concept so... "overshoot the mark," yeah.... They risk their market sales due to the older and more sexist generations. Hell, I'm wearing a dress right now.... I would've loved to have been openly able to play with the girls and in their games as a kid.

Again, I really like this idea Vector. I'm just worried about it and I'm someone who really liked playing with dolls as a kid. I'm cool with it, but how do you reassure the nervous sales director?

Edit: Ninja'd by G Flex's Post about Corporations not wanting to take risks....
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http://news.yahoo.com/fred-got-two-beatings-per-day-homework-asks-230717586--abc-news.html
And then of course there's Georgia proving once again that it is in a neck and neck race with Alabama to be as offensive as possible