If there’s one toy that I really enjoyed from my childhood, it’s my bucket of LEGOs. I got my first set when I turned 7 and since then, I never stopped playing with the little bricks. I did everything with it; classified the pieces by color, challenged myself to build something using only 2-3 pieces, and even built my dream house. I bugged my parents every time we visited a toy store for a new set and now that I’m older, I still have most of those with me to curb boredom. Whenever I’m not reading books or going online, I find myself building things with my old LEGOs.
I distinctly remember LEGOs being the common toy of choice for me and my cousins, who are mostly boys. Back then, it didn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl as long as you had heaps of imagination and time to burn.
LEGO recently launched a product for young girls called LEGO Friends. It reminds me of another toy, Polly Pocket, where colors and themes are distinctly feminine. Pinks and purples dominate the pieces with themes depicting curvy girl characters in a beauty salon, swimming pool, or a café. After seeing the ads for this new line, I remembered one particular LEGO print ad showing a young girl holding her LEGO creation.Her face shows how proud she was of her project, that it didn’t matter to the viewer whatever it was. The expression on her face was enough proof of how much she enjoyed the bricks regardless of her age or gender.
LEGO used to advertise their products regardless of the target audience’s gender. Here are some of their vintage ads from a time when a bucket of LEGOs can be enjoyed by boys AND girls.
Bonus
