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A pink girl’s room and a blue boy’s room. Dolls for the girls, cars for the boys. Is that still the case? It can also be done differently.

The dazzling pink film about Barbie, which is much more than a story about girls’ toys but also contains many queer elements (see my blog about Barbiemania), illustrates that the big brands are no longer afraid to show their diversity. Not even when it comes to the younger consumer. For example, Lego has been ‘visibly making itself heard’ for a few years now.

Some companies thus take a risk to antagonize a conservative part of society: think of the recent Bud Light drama. But the influence of the Millennials and GenZ, the most free-thinking generations ever, is getting stronger and the bullies who threaten boycotts are being taken less and less seriously and their ‘position’ is becoming less and less tenable.

More diverse toys also help prepare children for living in a diverse world. “You play to understand life. If you want a diverse society, it’s good that you also have diverse toys, because toys symbolize the world in which the child grows up,” says developmental psychologist Steven Pont on RTL News.

Last week I described the Barbie movie – the crossover from toy to movie and back is a logical one -, now I’m taking a look at those blocks-you-should-not-step-on-with-your-bare-foot-but-have-done-that-at least-six-times: LEGO (aka Lego). Lego movies have also been made, but they play no role in this article.

Role model
Lego is the largest toy manufacturer in the world, so when they do something they are also a bit of a role model.

They say: “The LEGO Group is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are partnering with Workplace Pride and Open for Business to help shape strategies and programs to support employees who identify as LGBT+ across the company.” Parents, regardless of gender, receive a minimum of 26 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary breadwinner, and 8 for the secondary. The parents can decide for themselves who they want to appoint as primary.

That is a good start (phase 1 of Diversity: phase 2 concerns suppliers, phase 3 MarCom), but fortunately it does not stop there and they also show their Inclusion to the outside world, albeit late.

Associations
You can’t start showing diversity to little people early enough, of course.

They commissioned a study among nearly seven thousand children aged 6 to 14 and their parents. It shows that 71 percent of boys are afraid of being laughed at when they play with toys associated with girls. That fear is often shared by their parents. But the other way around – so when girls play with ‘boy toys’ – that is much less the case. “That is also because behavior that is perceived as masculine is valued more highly in society,” said Madeline Di Nonno, who led the study, in the British newspaper The Guardian.

Lego doesn’t put its products into “for boys” or “for girls” categories: on the company’s website you can choose based on a specific interest, such as “robots for kids”, “fantasy” or “space”. “The products are tested on both girls and boys,” says head of marketing Julia Goldin, “and we use female role models more often.”

Marketing the Rainbow
It started in 2019 with a miniature pride parade at Pride in London, but that didn’t get much attention (internationally). In 2020, Lego partnered with UK charity Diversity Role Models, which works to embed inclusion through educational workshops in schools, and US organization GLSEN, which works to create safer and affirming learning environments for LGBT+ students and young people .

The party really started in 2021. We were surprised with the colorful rainbow set “Everyone Is Awesome“, where, in addition to the traditional 6 colors, the additional colors of the Pride Progress flag were also represented by a total of 11 figurines.

The set generated a lot of earned media: both positive and negative, but you know what Oscar Wilde said about that.

Penalties
But… this set was sold as “18+”, which of course results in a marketing penalty. Normally Lego sets are age-rated based on complexity, but with only 346 pieces to build a simple rectangular diorama, the Everyone is Awesome set is considerably easier than, say, the Lego City Town Center set (790 pieces, rated 6+) or the Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets kit (a whopping 1,176 pieces, rated 9+).

A Lego spokesperson said: “Intended to be a display model rather than a playset, this set was designed with our adult fans in mind. That is why we suggested the age range and used the packaging designed for our adult products.” Unfortunately, this age rating creates a disturbing assumption: that this set isn’t suitable for younger people because it celebrates Pride. While not a playset in the traditional sense, younger LGBT people may feel ignored by this qualification.

A to Z
Last year we saw “The A-Z of Awesome” a social media project that raised LGBT+ voices.

Community members were invited to share their stories through building with the iconic, colorful blocks. The campaign’s first participants, all members of the wider LGBT community, created LEGO dioramas based on their personal stories, such as a butterfly-themed artwork for the trans community and a letter “Q” with multiple perspectives to celebrate the diversity of the queer community. to honor. The different scenes and their creator’s explanations form part of LEGO’s proposed “alphabet” of identities.

They donated $1 million to partner organizations supporting the LGBT+ community: Workplace Pride, Stonewall, Open for Business, and Diversity Role Models. They also participated in Pride events, for example in London and Munich, where fun and educational building activities are organized. The LGBT+ employee groups organized activities for LEGO employees, such as Drag Queen Story Time at the factory in Mexico and at the office in Enfield, USA.

Every piece counts
This year they teamed up with the American actress and LGBT activist Samira Wiley (best known for Orange Is The New Black) and a ‘puzzle portrait’ of 41,000 pieces was shown.

Lego: “This Pride Month, we invite you to celebrate your amazing, true self – and everything that makes you a unique individual – by creating a self-portrait that reflects all the little pieces that make you YOU! To inspire you, we teamed up with Samira Wiley and Rolling Stone magazine to bring the award-winning actor’s personal story to life in cube form.” Nice challenge, but probably not everyone has 40,000 Lego bricks at home. But yes: “every piece counts”!

They also participated in Prides in London, Munich, Berlin, Provincetown and of course Copenhagen.

The global goal of the LEGO Group is to increase representation across its portfolio. This includes products, programs and marketing on all dimensions to reflect the diverse and global marketplace in which it operates.

Conclusion
Toy manufacturers are increasingly thinking in rainbows, reaching younger customers in a – call it – playful way. This way the kids can get acquainted with diversity. No conversion, no indoctrination, no brainwashing: an introduction. It also makes it easier for parents to talk about such matters. As the largest player in the market, Lego sets a good example. I give them a 7½ for their efforts: they started very late with their Marketing the Rainbow (and a penalty for the 18+ blooper), but they do it in a fun, relevant and original way.

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow. He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about Barbiemania and the shortage of pink paint, Bud Light and the 4 bln dollar woman, Dutch retailer HEMA loves everybody, Pronouns, About those rainbows, Alphabet soup, M&M’s and the lesbian invasion, Magnum and the lesbian wedding,  Marketing the Rainbow: the process and all that came before it, Sport and (un)sportmanship,  Why you need a supplier diversity program, BeNeLux LGBTIQ+ Business Chamber (BGLBC), From B2C and B2B to B2G and G2G (oh, and G2C), The Men from Atlantis, The other kind of cruising, Booking.com, Home Deco, Haters and trolls: the ‘letter to the editor’ of the 21st century, 5 Bizarre LGBT Videos, TRANSparency, Transgender persons as a target group, Matchmaking, 5 videos that went viral, From Representation To Respect, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, 4 reasons to practice diversity and The Rules of Market Segmentation.