by Meghan D.
During my recent observation of toy marketing in Target, I came across a question that I am still not sure I have found the answer to: Are Legos today a good or a bad toy for children? While I had previously known that Legos are popular among children today, I was unaware of the extent of their domination in toy stores or their vast connection to media culture. These factors came as a shock as I noticed how Legos consume almost 3 aisles of the toy section, leading me to focus on the Lego brand’s promotion of consumerism and gender-divided marketing.
Let’s take a look at what you see when you shop for Legos today. They’re organized into boxed sets and those sets are categorized by type. For example, one type of set is “City” and in one of those sets you build a ferry. There were about 23 “types” of Lego sets and about 16 of them were linked to media culture, such as Star Wars, DC Super Heroes and Disney Princesses. Even the sets designed for Preschool aged children incorporated media, like Disney Junior, and there were only a few types that were not, such as the “Family” and “Creator” sets.
Another alarming discovery was the indiscreet encouragement of violence. One aisle consisted of only Star Wars and Ninjago sets, which were clearly marketed towards boys. I noticed how on every box, the characters had angry faces and were all fighting and shooting with weapons. Accompanying those sets were Lego character masks and gloves that kids could wear to pretend they were Lego knights. Unfortunately, there were very few containers of just Legos being sold, and those were placed on the bottom shelves.
What can we learn about marketing by the Lego brand? They’re promoting consumerism by designing their products so that kids want to collect every set. I’ve concluded that over half of the Lego sets being sold are promoting violence and almost all are stifling creativity, leaving little opportunity for open-ended play. Children who buy these sets are being told exactly what to build, which parts to use to build it and how to put them together.
I do believe that some children, whom are good players, can go beyond the boundaries being set here and use this “toy” in creative play. However, if you placed a box of mixed Lego’s, with no instruction, in front of most children today, they would become bored and have difficulty figuring out what to build. I’ve concluded that the Lego sets of today are serving as “bad” toys in that they are divided by gender and are doing the playing for children, rather than leaving the building up to them. Additionally, I would label them as a “sold out” toy in that, while they are traditional, they are no longer promoting creative play like they used to but are instead consuming the market and serving to profit the brand for years to come.
During my recent observation of toy marketing in Target, I came across a question that I am still not sure I have found the answer to: Are Legos today a good or a bad toy for children? While I had previously known that Legos are popular among children today, I was unaware of the extent of their domination in toy stores or their vast connection to media culture. These factors came as a shock as I noticed how Legos consume almost 3 aisles of the toy section, leading me to focus on the Lego brand’s promotion of consumerism and gender-divided marketing.
Let’s take a look at what you see when you shop for Legos today. They’re organized into boxed sets and those sets are categorized by type. For example, one type of set is “City” and in one of those sets you build a ferry. There were about 23 “types” of Lego sets and about 16 of them were linked to media culture, such as Star Wars, DC Super Heroes and Disney Princesses. Even the sets designed for Preschool aged children incorporated media, like Disney Junior, and there were only a few types that were not, such as the “Family” and “Creator” sets.
Another alarming discovery was the indiscreet encouragement of violence. One aisle consisted of only Star Wars and Ninjago sets, which were clearly marketed towards boys. I noticed how on every box, the characters had angry faces and were all fighting and shooting with weapons. Accompanying those sets were Lego character masks and gloves that kids could wear to pretend they were Lego knights. Unfortunately, there were very few containers of just Legos being sold, and those were placed on the bottom shelves.
What can we learn about marketing by the Lego brand? They’re promoting consumerism by designing their products so that kids want to collect every set. I’ve concluded that over half of the Lego sets being sold are promoting violence and almost all are stifling creativity, leaving little opportunity for open-ended play. Children who buy these sets are being told exactly what to build, which parts to use to build it and how to put them together.
I do believe that some children, whom are good players, can go beyond the boundaries being set here and use this “toy” in creative play. However, if you placed a box of mixed Lego’s, with no instruction, in front of most children today, they would become bored and have difficulty figuring out what to build. I’ve concluded that the Lego sets of today are serving as “bad” toys in that they are divided by gender and are doing the playing for children, rather than leaving the building up to them. Additionally, I would label them as a “sold out” toy in that, while they are traditional, they are no longer promoting creative play like they used to but are instead consuming the market and serving to profit the brand for years to come.