Indeed, though your choice of words, ‘marketing manipulation’ seems to imply a secret cabal of sexist plotters injecting their gender stereotypes into the impressionable minds of kids through toy styling. It might be more apt to describe any increase in stereotypical gender marketing as ‘marketing response’. In the endless dance between consumer and producer, the producer may suggest which way to turn next, but it the consumer who determines whether to follow through on any suggestion. If consumers stopped buying ‘My Little Twerker’ dolls, the shelves would be clear of them just as quickly as they can be remaindered out to Dollar General.
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Brilliantly argued, professor! A rhetorical tour de force. Can a person win a Nobel prize twice in the same field? Perhaps they’ll make an exception since “Ghost Milton Friedman” has never won the prize before. Your novel proof by way of “And if you disagree with my assertion, why don’t you quit your job and start a company that demonstrates that my assertion is false” is sure to resonate from the halls of Oxford to the University of Chicago. If this one doesn’t net you the prize, I’m sure your next paper “Robber Barons: I know you are but what am I?” will put you over the top.
Seriously, honestly, what you are saying is analogous in every way to Dr. Pangloss’s “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” Why bother trying to improve things? If they were supposed to be different, they would already be that way. If consumers wanted non-sexist toys, some company would sell them already. It’s a lazy, amoral philosophy, and like I said already, it’s apologist bullshit that can be used to excuse ANY action (or non-action) by ANY company.
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Oh, for cat’s sakes. I was agreeing with you that I’m certainly no Milton Friedman. However, you’re arguing that the market analysis which toy companies are able to purchase with profits from $22 billion of revenue are so short-sighted and off-base that they’ve somehow blundered in their perception that more money can be made from toys that pander to stereotypical roles. I suppose there is some chance that the hundreds of MBAs employed by the toy companies have all missed the boat, and that you’re really much better at it than them. Hence my encouragement for you to find out.
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Some first graders know how to do complex math problems. And this 7 year old might be 7 years and 11 months and 15 days old, growing up in a smart household, who encourage her.
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Well, Lego was a successful gender neutral toy until the pink plague came upon it sometime in the 90’s.
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It’s the same thing over and over with you. The status quo must be the best possibility because it’s the status quo. The toy industry must know the best way to run the toy industry because THEY’RE THE TOY INDUSTRY. Insiders can’t be wrong because they’re insiders. Look at all their money and expertise!
Know what, you’re right. Well, MAYBE you’re right, but certainly I can’t argue against your position because it has perfect internal consistency. There is never any cause for an outsider to take issue with anything that’s done by any company, any industry, any government. It might LOOK, in my inexpert eyes, like they’re doing something wrong. But they’re the ones actually doing the job. I’ll remember that when the cops shoot my dog or the coal company spills toxic waste all over my property. That might feel wrong to me, but I’ll try to remember that the insiders, who are paid to know about this stuff, always make their decisions for a good reason.
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Well, I think we can take it as a given that if she’d been raised by wolves on a desert island, then she wouldn’t have gotten the idea of writing this letter, or indeed gotten the idea that “writing” was possible. So the letter can only be properly understood in the context of thousands of years of social evolution.
In that sense, parts of the letter are derived from the general background of human civilization, parts of it came specifically from the author’s parents and peers, and other parts came from the author herself. The mostly likely scenario is that the girl was unhappy with the product and mentioned this to her parents, and then the parents said, “There’s no use in complaining to us; you’ll need to talk to the manufacturer. We heard somewhere that written letters are more effective than e-mails, so you might want to consider that option.”
Of course we can speculate about other possible scenarios but it doesn’t seem all that productive. What difference does it make, anyway?
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t understand why you’re posting so many messages trying to discredit the work of a 7-year-old girl. Has she been bullying you? Would you like to talk about it?
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No sexist remarks and/or trolling allowed. Stop.
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I’m a crazy Lego fiend and have more Lego than you can imagine waiting for my 1 year old girl, when she’s ready.
I’d love to see more “classic” lego, and I’m not a huge fan of the themed sets, though I like some of the special pieces they include.
Anyway, I don’t think I can fault Lego too much for producing the sets that they do.
I don’t know if you’ve seen this NPR story (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/28/196605763/girls-legos-are-a-hit-but-why-do-girls-need-special-legos), but Lego is well aware that girls aren’t as interested in their products, and they created Lego Friends after doing research on how boys and girls play. Apparently it sells pretty well. I think if the sets encourage building and imagination, I don’t really care if they’re pink.
I was going to list some more sets here that I think the author of the letter might like, but I guess I can only post 2 links.
I also like the city camper!
Hopefully my girl will love all Lego, but I’ll let her decide what sets she wants to buy.
Also, I’m not kidding. My daughter will be able to swim, Uncle-Scrooge-style, in the amount of Lego that’s waiting for her!
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You’re assuming that marketing and consumption are singularly based on consumer preference and that there is no manipulation involved in regards to how we consume–I disagree, they just aren’t mutually exclusive as you suggest, but dovetail quite a bit in ways that aren’t always obvious. I’m suggesting a more complex process where, while choices exist in a (articifically created often times) market, they are not all consumer driven choices–there is no evidence to suggest in this case that there was some demand for a gendered set of legos.
Although he doesn’t talk about gender, David Suisman’s study of the creation of the modern music industry in the first half of the 20th century addresses just this issue of how an industry can be driven from the inside, rather than purely from consumption. He calls the recording industry built almost completely outside of consumer demand.
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So that families with a girl and a boy will have to buy two.
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Most male themed adventure stories are grandfathered in to get past problems with the backstory, such as the genocide behind cowboys and indians. I think there’s more to be said on this subject, but that’s all I have for now.
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Why is it that some people believe that profit-seeking corporations always make the optimal decisions to deliver to the market what it wants, yet those same people often will tell you about a vast ocean of conservatives mysteriously ignored by media corporations that would rather cater to a liberal minority?
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Really? Because when I was 7 I wrote to Lego asking them to make a hydraulic system so I could make better diggers etc. this was back in 1967, when Lego was fairly basic. The first my parents knew was when the reply arrived; sadly they told me they couldn’t see how to make such parts. Of course, they worked it out some years later.
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there is no evidence to suggest in this case that there was some demand for a gendered set of legos.
The fact that gendered legos remain on the shelves for more than a season is evidence that demand for the product exists. Lego isn’t going to keep shipping stuff that doesn’t sell. If you’re asserting that Lego created the demand for gendered versions, that doesn’t paint a very flattering picture of consumers, does it? Mindless sheep, grazing on the abundance of Wal-Mart, buying whatever the TV tells them to. (Not saying there’s no truth to that image, just that it isn’t all that flattering). I suspect gendered Legos arose more from some marketeers observing that girls are talking their parents into forking over $180 for Barbie Dream House, and they asked themselves what could be done to pick up a slice of that. The answer was to appeal to tribal affiliation. By offering Cinderella’s Romantic Castle, Lego is saying to little girls “You’re a girl. Here’s something fun that celebrates your tribe, something your stinky brother will never touch.”
I’m not familiar with David Suisman’s work. But if the music industry wasn’t selling something consumers wanted, consumers wouldn’t have bought it. Now, it may very well be that what consumers were buying was tribal affirmation or some other intangible that isn’t music. The same can be argued with respect to toys - kids often buy things because all the cool kids have them. That doesn’t alter the fundamental essence of the transaction - products and services are available because that’s what people buy, whether they’re buying a toy, or the cachet of being a participant in the latest fad, or tangible acknowledgement of part of their identity, or are buying a prop to help them fantasize about belonging to an entirely different group. Pink Legos persist because people will pay for them, simple as that.
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How many pink lego sets are bought by parents at the request of their child, and how many are bought for children without their input, destined to be ignored in the bedroom toy box?
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From the looks of the store shelves I have seen those lego “friends” sets must sell very badly.
They are always very fully stocked, and there is usually nobody looking at them. The regular lego shelves have constant empty spots and always several people looking and buying.
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What a shame that you were so sheltered and incurious.
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In the first grade, I was reading at a 12th grade level and writing at a 7th grade level. With multiple drafts, periods, and commas.
(In fact, in first grade I wrote a play that my class put on. With stage directions, multiple drafts, punctuation, etc.)
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