Do girls need "special" Legos?

[NotUrsula]

...
Boys and girls should play with toys that develop both their emotional and intellectual skills. we shouldn't pigeonhole boys into guns and girls into barbies. we shouldn't have 'boy' aisles and 'girl' aisles at the toy stores, we should have 'art' aisles and 'building' aisles and 'dress-up' aisles and kids should feel as though they can play with toys in all of them. but for that kind of thing to happen, the adults have to be critical of toy companies and how they design and market their toys. right

This caught my eye in an earlier post (emphasis mine.) Going back to that BusinessWeek article, there is a quote from a representative of Target that is talking about the way that the store is going to display the toys, and it's telling:

Target’s Stephanie Lucy, vice-president and merchandise manager for toys and sports goods, says the Minneapolis-based department store will introduce Lego Friends on an end-cap (at the end of an aisle), then shelve it with other girl-oriented toys, not with the rest of the Lego—all currently in the boy section. As long as girls find it, Lucy says, “I believe it will do very well.”

See what I mean about marketing? Target has gone so far into the gender-based marketing of toys that they are not going to put these Legos in the Lego aisle. Apparently they don't even have toy aisles that are gender-neutral anymore.

 

[curious3069]

I wish I could remember how toy stores were set up when I was a kid. I lived in a very small town and know there were toys at the 5 & dime, but don't remember how they were set up. I do remember that catalogs were very distinct in separating girls & boy toys-My sisters and I played a game we called "I Get It" with catalogs where we picked the toys we wanted and always skipped what we considered the boy toys. Girl toys were always in the front of the catalogs, boys in the back.

 

[diznygirl]

This caught my eye in an earlier post (emphasis mine.) Going back to that BusinessWeek article, there is a quote from a representative of Target that is talking about the way that the store is going to display the toys, and it's telling:

Target’s Stephanie Lucy, vice-president and merchandise manager for toys and sports goods, says the Minneapolis-based department store will introduce Lego Friends on an end-cap (at the end of an aisle), then shelve it with other girl-oriented toys, not with the rest of the Lego—all currently in the boy section. As long as girls find it, Lucy says, “I believe it will do very well.”[/QUOTE]

See what I mean about marketing? Target has gone so far into the gender-based marketing of toys that they are not going to put these Legos in the Lego aisle. Apparently they don't even have toy aisles that are gender-neutral anymore.

I almost didn't find them. They are Legos, so I looked with the other Legos. Silly me. We were walking away when they caught my eye in the "girl" aisle.

I worked at a toy store about 15 years ago - there were girl aisles and boy aisles back then but we weren't allowed to call them that - action figures in aisle 1 and dolls in aisle 2. The boys and girls found what they wanted.

 

[Magic Mom]

This caught my eye in an earlier post (emphasis mine.) Going back to that BusinessWeek article, there is a quote from a representative of Target that is talking about the way that the store is going to display the toys, and it's telling:

Target’s Stephanie Lucy, vice-president and merchandise manager for toys and sports goods, says the Minneapolis-based department store will introduce Lego Friends on an end-cap (at the end of an aisle), then shelve it with other girl-oriented toys, not with the rest of the Lego—all currently in the boy section. As long as girls find it, Lucy says, “I believe it will do very well.”[/QUOTE]

See what I mean about marketing? Target has gone so far into the gender-based marketing of toys that they are not going to put these Legos in the Lego aisle. Apparently they don't even have toy aisles that are gender-neutral anymore.

If they are marketing towards new users (girls that haven't been interested in Legos before) then placing in the aisle that those girls typically shop in makes sense.

 

[PeterPan09]

This caught my eye in an earlier post (emphasis mine.) Going back to that BusinessWeek article, there is a quote from a representative of Target that is talking about the way that the store is going to display the toys, and it's telling:



If they are marketing towards new users (girls that haven't been interested in Legos before) then placing in the aisle that those girls typically shop in makes sense.

but why do we have segregated aisles in the first place? Why don't we have aisles for types of toys like someone suggested upthread-"building", "dress up", "art", put all the dolls and action figures in the same aisle, stuff like that. That way lots of kids would be exposed to toys that they might not have been interested in before! Open up their opportunities and see what they come up with.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

I wish they would've had legos for "girls" when my kids were younger. They would've loved to build a princess castle or something along those lines. My husband spent about $75 on a huge lego set once for Christmas. I think it was something related to pirates. Anyway, my girls hardly looked at it. Such a waste.

 

[curious3069]

but why do we have segregated aisles in the first place? Why don't we have aisles for types of toys like someone suggested upthread-"building", "dress up", "art", put all the dolls and action figures in the same aisle, stuff like that. That way lots of kids would be exposed to toys that they might not have been interested in before! Open up their opportunities and see what they come up with.

I think the obvious answer is that retailers have found that works and is the most profitable. They do it to make the most money possible. If you don't like it, I'm sure there are toy stores somewhere that line up with that philosophy.

And parents are completely able to buy toys from wherever the wish, in whatever aisle they wish. They can expose their children to whatever they want. I don't see how which aisle a toy is in prevents a child from playing with it if they are interested in it????? Teach your kids that it doesn't matter if it's pink or black or a "girl" toy or a "boy" toy. I just don't get why as a parent you can't just expose your child to what you want rather than relying on a store to do it for you?????

 

[Magic Mom]

I think the obvious answer is that retailers have found that works and is the most profitable. They do it to make the most money possible. If you don't like it, I'm sure there are toy stores somewhere that line up with that philosophy.

And parents are completely able to buy toys from wherever the wish, in whatever aisle they wish. They can expose their children to whatever they want. I don't see how which aisle a toy is in prevents a child from playing with it if they are interested in it????? Teach your kids that it doesn't matter if it's pink or black or a "girl" toy or a "boy" toy. I just don't get why as a parent you can't just expose your child to what you want rather than relying on a store to do it for you?????

Not only that, but toys are grouped in like categories. Action figures, dolls, Bratz rolleyes and Barbies, stuffed animals, etc. If my girl really likes action figures then we will spend more time shopping that aisle. I really don't want to wander up and down every aisle looking for the types of toy my child likes. It's much simpler to have them grouped, and consequently better business for the store.

 

[wvjules]

I think everything should be in black and white and shades of grey. That'll make it easier. No more worrying about gender specific colors that way. We also don't need a boys department and a girls department for clothes. Just putall sizes together in one big department. Car seats should only be yellow or green too.

 

[smitch425]

but why do we have segregated aisles in the first place? Why don't we have aisles for types of toys like someone suggested upthread-"building", "dress up", "art", put all the dolls and action figures in the same aisle, stuff like that. That way lots of kids would be exposed to toys that they might not have been interested in before! Open up their opportunities and see what they come up with.

Not sure I really understand the bolded... how are kids not exposed to the toys one aisle over? I mean, don't the parents supervise and stay with their children while they are in the toy department? Kids are "exposed" to things by their parents, not stores.

 

[Magic Mom]

I think everything should be in black and white and shades of grey. That'll make it easier. No more worrying about gender specific colors that way. We also don't need a boys department and a girls department for clothes. Just putall sizes together in one big department. Car seats should only be yellow or green too.

No more princess makeovers at WDW? Maybe just makeovers that included a quick comb and green sweatshirts.

Mickey and Minnie could be merged into one gender neutral mouse named Alex or Pat.

 

[curious3069]

I think everything should be in black and white and shades of grey. That'll make it easier. No more worrying about gender specific colors that way. We also don't need a boys department and a girls department for clothes. Just putall sizes together in one big department. Car seats should only be yellow or green too.

Fantastic idea! Probably all toys should be square or circular too, they shouldn't be shaped like anything that suggests a use, like a babydoll or a robot.

 

[Magic Mom]

Fantastic idea! Probably all toys should be square or circular too, they shouldn't be shaped like anything that suggests a use, like a babydoll or a robot.

Square and circular might be construed as gender specific. A blob-like shape would be better. Like this...

 

[HelenePA]

Square and circular might be construed as gender specific. A blob-like shape would be better. Like this...

Its what every boy and girl wants... ocean brain!

 

[Magic Mom]

Its what every boy and girl wants... ocean brain!

Silly, that's not a brain. That's Sam the genderless superhero dolly. I'm going to charge $21.99 for it.

 

[wvjules]

Ewww that's gross, whatever it is.

 

[MrsDuck]

I don't see a problem with "girly" legos.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I didn't read the thread, but my take is, girls don't need special girly legos. But they may enjoy them so what's the harm.

Lego is a business and if this is what it takes to get more girls interested in Legos, then it's a good business move.

All my kids (2 boys and 2 girls) played constantly with the Lego Duplos when they were young.

One son played with regular Legos almost daily, for hours until he was 14. Other son played occasionally but didn't really take to them.

 

[MAH4546]

That is kind of desperately depressing.

No, whats desperately depressing and outright disgusting is that you think it's okay to snub your nose at a girl that might be into designing fashion or being a vet. Shame in you and absolutely pathetic. There is nothing to be ashamed of by wanting to be a fashion designer or a beautician or a make-up artist, those are careers!

Oh, and the second batch of sets releasing in May includes such "girly" sets like a boat, plane, 4x4, farm and a camping set.

 

[Jey12]

I just wanted to say DD turned 6 today and we had about $20 in toyrus reward bucks from the holiday shopping. We took her into the store and walked every aisle. She decided all on her own to pick out the convertible car friends set from legos. They were almost sold out of most of the sets. We found the friends set in the legos section of the store along with ninjago, POTC, and they were sitting between Spongebob and the Toy Story sets. She was not "drawn" away from the other sets by the purple box. There wasn't anyone standing there from the lego company, or a group of adults and other kids telling her she "had" to pick the set she did. She spent a great deal of time trying to decide between the toy story, sponge bob and star wars sets along with a few of the friends ones. She finally picked the friends set and for the first time in her life she's excited about a lego set and it's on our list of things to do tomorrow morning. She would have been just as excited about the star wars set I'm sure. The friends sets caught her attention in an aisle she normally just walks straight through.