Feminists freak out over LEGO Friends

Petition promoter doesn't like pink 'or' macho

2012-01-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

The main person behind the petition against The LEGO Group, Lyn Mikel Brown, also is against what she believes are "macho" toys for boys. Along with her partner & fellow Colby College instructor, they appear to have spent the past 20 years railing against toy companies.
Lyn Mikel Brown is also owner of these entities: SPARK, Hardy Girls, PBG, which comprise the majority of petitioners and spreading of false information about LEGO Friends.

SPARK letter to TLG

2012-01-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

SPARK letter to TLG Jan 20, 2012

    Once again, you do not speak for all girls. You do not speak for me. I have spent my life in STEM disciplines. I faced stereotyping. I over-came obstacles in male-dominated academic and professional careers. You do not speak for me.
    Kids need to be exposed to examples of what their parents may perceive as gender-stereotyped messages in marketing, media and at point-of-purchase, so that they may know to recognize it. They need to be able to delineate for themselves if it is indeed a suggestion, or a trick telling them this is what society demands of them.
    If you feel this is the issue -- then use this as a teachable moment for your own kids. Give them the skills to navigate through society's messages, so they may use those same problem-solving skills in application to other aspects in life. Whether inter-personal relationships, or in the virtual world, kids need to have the ability to think for themselves.

    However, your campaign's tactics on the Internet, consisting of re-spinning half-truths and fact omissions is very unbecoming of any intellectual persuasion.

    To the millions of girls who are thrilled about LEGO Friends and the new options which encourage them to manipulate bricks into their play & imagination time, I say: Build on girls!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Besides, why would The LEGO Group give into demands by people who call them names like this:

Melissa Atkins Wardy 'aka' Pigtail Pals has perpetuated so many falsehood about LEGO Friends online, such as them being pre-fab (which they are not), it's hard to keep up with the charade -- all the while she bought her first ever LEGO bricks in December. The only regret of covering her actions on this blog is that she is online as a business, masquerading as a "girl empowerment" group -- giving her any attention is a bad side-effect. The sacrifice is worth it -- documenting the tactics and actions of these petitioners is here for posterity.

The LEGO Group's reply to misleading information

2012-01-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2012/january/lego-group-commentary-on-attracting-more-girls-to-construction-play/

LEGO Group commentary on attracting more girls to construction play

Hoodwinked by pink

2012-01-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

Spark changed petition sponsors; somehow they convinced Change to include it in their mailings to its 5 million members. This, after their petition drive stalled-out at around 4,000 signatures over about 2 weeks time period of spreading incorrect information by: tweeting, posting, e-mailing, blogging, begging off op-ed submissions on media sites, plus creating and redistributing false images --- all the while blocking & deleting counter-information posts, links, and product images.

When members arrive at the petition page via a quick link, they are presented with a fantastical story of false information. Any "electronically signed" petition isn't valid if the facts aren't there. Using Spark's own child actresses of Dana Edell (owner of an acting studio) in videos filled with false information.

    FACT: 2012 does have more female MiniFigs. How can LEGO add more girls to Harry Potter? Shall they request them from JK Rowling? Yet, you claim "back-story" isn't inspiring creativity anyway? So, which is it, girls?
    FACT: Images of both girls & boys are all over LEGO advertising -- Buckets, KidsFests, Posters, Magazines, Club magazines, Game covers, etc.
    FACT: It's a Splash Pool -- just like millions of young girls enjoy in their own backyards. It's Ice Cream (apparently some people aren't familiar with LEGO utensils -- the glass is a goblet, used in many, many sets) not a cocktail "drink" in the one small set in Friends theme. That set is easily over-looked if any of you actually went to a store near you to see for yourself!
    FACT: Olivia's house is prominent -- oh, and is not "dumbed-down" and the set box includes System bricks compatible to all System sets (yes, including City) -- and it has 695 separate bricks & pieces -- loose and un-assembled.
FACT: Stay tuned -- there are more Friends on the way -- you may have to look to the sky!

No, the "no pink" campaigners do not represent all girls making up 50% of the population. You do not represent me.

The LEGO Group is a privately help company; if you don't like one of their themes, don't buy it -- that will leave more for the rest of the world's builders.
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Update: Read what the Change.dot.org members' mailing message included in regard to the petition against LEGO. http://www.paganomation.com/2012/01/the-ongoing-lego-friends-controversy/

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Another petition based on false information created by New Moon Girls: http://www.care2.com/causes/girls-to-lego-what-the-heck-are-you-thinking.html

FACT: The LEGO Group already does employs female designers.

Friends in the LEGO aisle

2012-01-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

FACT: Friends new sets are placed in the LEGO aisle at major retailers in North America.

FACT: Friends sets at the end of the construction toy aisle (note: it is not called the boy toy aisle).
(this display was sold out of Olivia's House Jan 9)

Display of Olivia's House - set includes 695 separate bricks/pieces.

Display of Olivia's House interior - yellow serrated wheel allows customers to rotate set for viewing.

Fembots FIRST Robotics Team 2009

2012-01-02T11:24:00.001-08:00

One of three teams featured on Oprah

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Inside-the-17th-Annual-FIRST-Annual-Robotics-Competition/4

Fact: The LEGO Group gathers research data from all of its educational and corporate sponsorship activities all over the world. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and TLG's partnership organization: FLL (First LEGO League) have been listening to girls (and boys) since 1998.
Some women's rights groups claim girls who build with LEGO NXT Robotics should have been involved with development of any new "for girls" designated theme. They must not realize, NXT building/programming girls were part of the voice!

This is in response to some groups complaining real NXT girls were not part of LEGO research for the new theme:

Pink spam - read about the campaign tactics

2011-12-31T08:42:00.001-08:00

A recent comment on TLG's facebook's page going along with the above image being spammed there:

"A huge part of deciding the things Ibuy, particularly toys for my kids, is theethics of the company which make the product.I won't be buying any more Lego once you rollout the new Lego collection aimed at girls. Ihave no interest in encouraging my daughterto become "a budding Kardashian"(as the NYTimes describes your goal). I amdeeply disappointed."

First of all, the piece is an OpinionEditorial (that's what an Op-Ed is) and thewriter is a partner in the "NoPink" campaign -- she's on the advisoryboard of Hardy Girls, and a SPARKsummitpartner. The "budding Kardashian" comment is not The New York Times'description.

Peggy wrote this article when allthe skewed images & misinformation werefirst plastered all over various sites --then re-tweeted and re-posted ad nauseam.

It started with the Bloomberg photo-shopped,skewed image of one of the new Friends"mini-dolls" (they are not calledLadyFigs) which attempts to portray the sizeof the new mini-dolls as quite larger thanthe Classic MiniFigures, by magically givingher the ability to hold a yellow minifighead:

Bloomberg's photo-shopped image skews size ratio.

Stephanie Cole, also of SPARKsummit, whowrote the first piece for SPARK about TLGselling-out girls' intelligence, also wrote in her article howshe doesn't even own LEGO bricks, "I was never a Legos kid, not because Iwanted my figurines to have boobs, butbecause I didn’t like all the assemblyrequired before I could start staging battlesand cowboy adventures." -- Stephanie Cole www.sparksummit.com/2011/12/20/what-the-minifig-legos-bui...

    Then, fueled with anger by what Stephaniewrote, SPARKsummit's Baily Shoemaker Richardsdid not like the reply she"personally" received from TLG'stwitter & facebook fan page, so shewrote, "They thanked me for sharingSPARK’s thoughts on the new line of toys andrespectfully disagreed, stating that 4 yearsof research had told them themini-skirt-wearing, hot-tub-bathing,beauty-shop-running Lego ladies are whatgirls want now."
www.sparksummit.com/2011/12/21/3675/

    *That's not exactly what TLG replied, it wasactually: "Your feedback is important to us and Iwill share your comments and concerns withthe design and mrk team" -- per @LEGO_Group on twitter.

    The "so-called" hot-tub referred to by Bailey = a SplashPool www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=3931-1 you know, like the kind loads of kids onAFV are filmed playing in every week. Thebeauty shop set is just one set out of many, see if you can find it: www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Friends

    Still not satisfied with TLG's response, the"No Pink" campaign (blitz) waslaunched. It calls for a petition: compliments of Change.org sub-section Women's Rights, run by Shelby Knox; and encouraging a SPAM campaignon the Facebook wall the of the LEGO fan pagewith an image of TLG's own 1981 ad.

    Then, with a few more online women's rightsgroups joining the campaign -- with theirmany titled entities (to make the "no pink" appear waybigger): such as PBG (Powered by Girl) whose alias is the sameBailey, SPARKsummit is listed as an employer by Bailey too; New Moon Girls, aka, Nancy Gruver, aka, The broad side; LynMikel Brown, aka, Colby college, aka, Hardy Girls; Shelby Knox, aka, Women's Rights; Peggy Orenstein, aka, Hardy Girls, aka,SPARKsummit; REEL girls, aka, Margot Wagoman; Pigtail Pals, aka, Melissa Atkins Wardy; and Dana Adell,aka, SPARKsummit.

   "No pink aisles, bring back beautiful" slogan is quite catchy -- except it rings hollow. When Friends did reach major retailers in North America, the sets were on an end-cap of the "regular" LEGO aisle -- as with any new theme's introduction. At some retailers, there is a stand-alone display for Friends sets -- its placement is in the LEGO area. Also, the word beautiful used in the 1981 ad refers to the creation the girl made -- not the girl herself, as many spammers confusingly wrote.

Below are some of the online inciting articles, which were continually re-circulating amongst the various groups' sites, Facebook pages, blog, tweets, e-mail, etc:

    REEL girls, aka, Margot Magowan blog.sfgate.com/mmagowan/2011/12/21/new-legos-for-girls-g... also encourages people to spam TLG fan pagewhile giving TLG a triple "S"rating.

    Lyn Mikel Brown used the Huffington postplatform to continue to drown outcounter-information: www.huffingtonpost.com/lyn-mikel-brown/legos-for-girls_b_...

The "Riley pink & blue tirade"was added to the campaign for more visualpunch: ABC News was duped

    The "backlash" Buzzfeed post by Donna, seemsto be a lone wolf act of spreadingmisinformation by one of their "she-eple" since there wasn't an obvious alter entity indicated. Their social connecttools make it super easy to spread just aboutanything. www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/lego-for-girls-backlash-has-begun

    Dana Edell, also of SPARKsummit, got anarticle published in the New York Daily News:www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn-woman-starts-petiti...
which is what first caught my attention, andhow I was made aware of their facebook SPAMat Christmas time! At first, when I wrote my comment on the NY Daily article, Iwas obviously confused. I even included alink to the very same 1981 LEGO ad they were using in their spam campaign (because I had seen the scanned/uploaded image years ago on Flickr). Then, after viewing it being spammed on the Facebook fan page of LEGO and causing skewed information to be spread online, this blog was created to document and attempt to grasp the groups' agenda.

    New Moon Girls questioned why real girls whouse NXT can't develop a line for LEGO:

After getting some comments withcorrect information about some NXT activitiesthese past four years, Nancy hid the poston their wall. Although, continuingencouragement for their campaign people to spam TLG's wall. Plus, New Moon, aka, Broad Side, aka, Nancy Gruver, created yet another petition.

Soon, people online started drinking the"no pink" Kool-Aid and postingcomments complaining the new Friends bricks were over-sized andwould not fit with other LEGO sets. This is also false: All Friends set bricks & elements are100% compatible with any LEGO System set.

After that, some misinformation was spreadthat Friends sets are "pre-fab"(pre-built) and require merely setting out apie & gumball machine

and claiming that this set will take a girl"only 4 minutes to build" when theset actually contains 222 bricks & elements: www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=3061-1
That wall post was then "hidden" from view, after being public 2 days. Followed by Pigtails posting/spamming more falseinformation onto TLG's page (a post in aformat which doesn't allowcomments/rebuttal).
Then on Dec 30, Pigtails reveals she makes her very first ever LEGO purchase, as a "newly minted" LEGO Mom:

     How can she be knowledgeable on how long it takes to build a LEGO set, if she has never?

    One of the most beautiful aspects LEGO is its re-build-ability. Images on set boxes aremerely ideas. Ideas which have painstakinglybeen converted into instructions included inthe sets. Some kids like instructions, somedon't. Current building trends are for kidsto be encouraged to re-build with the bricksfrom the sets into a MOC [My Own Creation]. This fosters imagination and spatial skills. There is even a website dedicated to MOCs,called MOCpages.com, hosted by certifiedprofessional builder, Sean Kenny.

    Many claims & comments in this campaignhave tried to equate Friends as somehowdenying girls access to education in STEM[Science Technology Engineering Math],even tweeting such fears to Pitsco (LEGOEducation elements manufacturer). Ifanything, this open access to even more girls to STEM. Girls who may not currentlymanipulate bricks, yet, who might beinterested in Friends, can also use theirimaginations while building spatial skills. If you don't like Friends, no worries. Justcontinue to buy from the plethora of red& yellow LEGO sets/tubs which don't causeany perceived confusion on gender. Truly though, theactivity of building with any color bricks is gender neutral.

    Now I have gone through several phases oftrying to understand their campaign's agenda. At first I thought it was "more girlsin ads," then, "no pinkbricks," and then "don't markethuge doll-like figures to girls which aren'tcompatible with other LEGO minifigs"[note: the hair pieces of mini-doll iscompletely interchangeable with all classicminifigs, also their hands can grip anyelement a yellow-headed minifig can].
   TodayI am not really sure. It's a bit unrealistic if this social-media campaignthinks they'll get Friends "halted"at production, or distribution, like they did a t-shirt on JC Penney web site:

Many independent retailers ofLEGO say their customers have been askingthem for for a while exactly what Friend setsprovide: a new option.

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Update: Now Peggy is off to picket Lincoln Logs too!

New York Times op-ed writer is partner in "No pink" campaign against LEGO

2011-12-30T11:25:00.001-08:00

"No Pink" partner submits op-ed to NYT

"No pink" campaign tactic = "block & delete!"

2011-12-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

Helpful LEGO fans try to show one of the "no pink" campaign partners other images of Friends than just the one in all their articles. This was in response to their call for real NXT girls to help develop theme.

In respond to asking why real NXT girls can't develop new theme, helpful comments with images & links to activities which real NXT girls had access to during the research period were then hidden from view by Nancy Gruver of New Moon Girls -- although they had been public for several days.

Yet, they continued their spam campaign on TLG wall.

Pigtail Pals re-adds the same question about why real NXT girls can be included to develop theme in a post to TLG page -- yet this post is in form that doesn't allow comments.

After that, Pigtail Pals "hides" a post (even though it was public for 2 days) in which she claims the Cafe set will take only 4 minutes to build --- requiring merely putting out the cupcake & gumball machine. As well as stating this set is pre-fab, therefore no intellectual challenge for her girl.
This Cafe set is mostly red, plus it is not pre-fab; this set comes with all bricks & elements loose in the box -- assembly is required. The box art is only one idea, girls are encouraged to build their own creation -- it's called a MOC (My Own Creation). Building with any color bricks is gender neutral.

Pigtail Pals: Pigtail Pals - Redefine Girly
---
New Moon Girls
New Moon Girls

Huff & puff

2011-12-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

    Another women's rights petitioner, Lyn Mikel Brown, used one of her many platforms to continue the campaign of: "No pink aisles, bring beautiful back," against the LEGO Group's new Friends theme. Although I tried four times to post a counter-information comment -- alas, they wouldn't post it.
Does the uploader of the blog page on Huffington have control over which comments get posted? Mine would have been the very first post, but after 4 tries, nothing. Then I noticed a comment did go through -- so it is possible for just the right comment to get through.
By highlighting the hashtag #LiberateLEGO, they are trying to re-ignite the campaign promoting a petition, spam, tweet, post on a site (then rinse & repeat as needed). All the while, they systematically delete posts on their own groups' pages on Facebook which LEGO fans have provided by sharing non-photoshopped/product stock images of the new Friends sets. Not publishing counter-argument comments is another tactic. (Yes, people have sent us compositions of what they wrote as comments which were never published on their various articles.)
Some of the deleted comments also included links to information about some programs/activities in which LEGO and the LEGO fan community has included girls; several have provided research insight over the past years.

Link to the above article of Lyn's is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lyn-mikel-brown/legos-for-girls_b_1172876.html

   (note: Lyn's affiliation with SPARKsummit is Hardy Girls group, also 'aka' Colby College)

Lyn & Megan are mad.

Now they have confused people even more -- into thinking Heartlake has a tanning salon.

I wonder if Portland Press Herald has permission to alter and/or even use without attribution the Bloomberg-owned skewed Friends "mini-doll" image.

ABC News was duped Riley was coached, video used in "No Pink" campaign

2011-12-27T21:52:00.000-08:00

Riley - the girl in the video about pink & blue - whose video was promoted and then offered up to the "No Pink aisles" campaigners for use in their "social-media campaign" against The LEGO Group when her parents heard about the new Friends theme.
===========================================================================

Here's the proof. Thanks to The Huffington Post. (above screencap is link to article)
Transcribe of what it says in the screencap:
"Sarah Maida, Riley's mom, told The Huffington Post that this video was actually shot in May of 2011. She and her husband Dennis had shared it with a few friends, who responded positively to Riley's message. But, after Sarah heard about LEGO Friends -- shapely mini-figures that lock into pink, purple and pastel green settings, such as a dream house, a splash pool and a beauty shop -- she posted the video on Facebook fan pages for Princess Free Zone and Pigtail Pals, companies that sell only gender-neutral products and stand up for girl's rights. (Princess Free's tagline is "Come as you are," and they sell apparel featuring designs like a dinosaur on a scooter or a skateboarding octopus.)"

===========================================================================

Then came the start of the SPAM campaign on the LEGO facebook page. Some feminist women's rights groups and "girl empowerment" product sellers networked together to SPAM and spread false information about the Friends theme and TLG's research.

Even in promoting the video, they admit some people think the rant is staged. As written by Jennifer Shewmaker, who also believes girls with ADHD aren't "normal" and used that premise in her education.

    This is a screencap of PBG telling their networking groups to tell LEGO not to base a new theme on what four years of research with real girls garnered -- but to give girls what is "good for them" (in their opinion) instead.

    Hello? The LEGO Group isn't in the business of, say, offering school lunches, which you pay for with your tax dollars and probably would want to make sure the meals aren't just what some kids want -- yet what is good for them instead.

    The LEGO Group is a privately-help corporation, which has gone beyond what most toy companies do in regard to research & development of its products.

    So, there we have PBG (powered by girls), SPARKsummit, Pigtail Pals, New Moon Girls, and Hardy Girls, Princess Free Zone, Jennifer Shewmaker, and a few more, all hatching their "social media campaign" plan. "No pink aisles, bring back beautiful" is what they spammed.

    What should have been a joyful holiday season was muddled up by a few feminists with an agenda. They saw an opportunity upon a chance dialogue with a wonderful company called LEGO -- they ran with it -- they petitioned -- they spammed -- they posted & re-posted, and now we know they used an apparently staged video of a little girl's rant.

    They tweeted and sent the video link back & forth in their networks -- somehow it got the attention of ABC News. Oh, Diane, how you were duped.

LINKs:
Little Girl Riley Angry Over 'Pink Stuff' Toys | Video - ABC News

PBG

Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker's Operation Transformation

New Moon Girls

SPARK a Movement

Pigtail Pals - Redefine Girly

--------------------------------------------

This blog isn't the only, or first, online posting of how Riley appears rehearsed:

http://www.queerty.com/watch-fierce-toddler-calls-out-gender-stereotypes-in-riley-on-marketing-20111226/

and

http://margotmagowan.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/is-riley-brainwashed-by-her-dad/

SPARKsummit article by Bailey on LEGO Friends

2011-12-26T06:42:00.001-08:00

LINK to article: http://www.sparksummit.com/2011/12/21/3675/

The "No pink aisles, bring beautiful back" campaign creator (Bailey/PBG) was *fueled* by an article on their feminists website -- written by Stephanie Cole, who admits she doesn't own LEGO: http://feminists-freak-out-over-lego-friends.blogspot.com/2011/12/sparksummit-by-stephanie-cole-admits.html

PBG (Powered by girls) usually attacks companies like Abercrombie, etc., for showing too much cleavage, or something like that.

How they ever justified lumping LEGO Friends into that category is bizarre at best.

The LEGO Group's 1981 advertisement SPARKsummit uses in their campaign is merely one ad featuring girls TLG has put forth over the decades.

In that advertisement the word "beautiful" is actually there as a description of what the girl built -- that it wasn't necessarily a "set" nor did it have uniform colors like sets, yet her own creation is still beautiful.

That there are no pink bricks visible isn't because LEGO didn't already make pink bricks.

SPARKSUMMIT by Stephanie Cole admits she's not LEGO person

2011-12-26T06:20:00.001-08:00

LINK to article: http://www.sparksummit.com/2011/12/20/what-the-minifig-legos-build-the-wrong-message-for-girls/

Not all LEGO figures can bee Princess Leia or Hermoine, as they reference. It appears they are not aware of the girls in the Collectible MiniFigures series.

Notice how they seem to be focused on the Splash Pool set, without showing images of the Inventor's Workshop, or others, which were released publicly at the same time.

Fact: LEGO has included female minifigures in new sets: See 2012 City Forest Fire Station's female Park Ranger: cty263: Forest Police - Dark Tan Jacket with Pockets, Gold Badge and Braid, Olive Green Tie, Dark Tan Legs, Campaign Hat | Brickset: LEGO set guide and database

LEGO Friends Olivia's House (set 3315)

2011-12-26T05:45:00.001-08:00

image copyright The LEGO Group

How is it this set is not "equal rights" to girls?
First consumers complained there weren't LEGO sets attracting young girls to build -- so TLG invested tons of money & time with real girls -- now they have a theme.

LEGO Friends 3061

2011-12-26T05:43:00.001-08:00

image copyright The LEGO Group

The first 'color' I see is red.
What is it about this set that some feminist groups think is not "equal" to girls?

LEGO Friends 3315

2011-12-26T05:42:00.001-08:00

This is the sets that gets put into the feminist groups' articles the most.
I guess girls aren't supposed to brush their hair in real life.
Notice how they systematically don't use the original set picture release by TLG: http://feminists-freak-out-over-lego-friends.blogspot.com/2011/12/lego-friends-3061.html

NewYorkDailyNews article about feminists not liking LEGO Friends

2011-12-25T15:47:00.001-08:00

LINK to article: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn-woman-starts-petition-girl-themed-lego-friends-article-1.995939#art_comments_tab

Some feminists are so happy to get their own agenda in the news. View the comments for yourself: http://feminists-freak-out-over-lego-friends.blogspot.com/2011/12/nydn-comments-show-that-bailey-really.html

They seem fixated one merely one set of the Friends theme -- the one with the most pink.

Based on skewed information and strategically omitted images; focusing on breasts & girly figures based on the photo-shopped images by Bloomberg Businessweek. (see top right side bar of this blog)

powered by girl other has other issues

2011-12-25T15:44:00.001-08:00

How these feminist groups can include a LEGO theme in their repertoire of ads they target as anti-female is bizarre. Except that of getting the media attention of attaching themselves to such a large company like The LEGO Group.

PBG

NYDN comments show that Bailey really just wants publicity for SPARK

2011-12-25T15:41:00.001-08:00

Comment by "Bshoe" Bailey Shoemaker Richards of SPARK reflects group is very excited to get their own agenda in to the news this way.

Bshoe 'aka' PBG (Powered by Girls) 'aka' SPARKsummit 'aka' @the_author_ 'aka' ...

NYDN poll Dec 25 2011

2011-12-25T15:40:00.001-08:00

PBG spam campaign for LEGO Facebook page

2011-12-25T15:39:00.003-08:00

LINK: PBG - encouraging to spam - LEGO Group

Powered by girls (PBG 'aka' Bailey) encourages people to SPAM the LEGO Group Facebook page with the same image over & over again ... pretty lame.
Especially during Christmas time!

TLG has open channels, use them: service.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

Your voice is your purchase -- if you don't like it don't buy it --just don't attach LEGO to some campaign to get attention for yourfeminist group's agendas.
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First Bailey wants people to "Like" the LEGO page ... thensomeone points out that might encourage the LEGO execs into thinking loads ofpeople actually 'like' them, so they changed their strategy to:"Don't 'Like' the page just post this picture" (of acopyright LEGO owned ad from 1981) and basically SPAM the page.

Then many feminist group members and other misinformed people stayed to "troll" the page to argue withpeople presenting facts, even Gary Istok ~ Unofficial AFOL LEGOHistorian. They basically drowned out the truth -- good thing we have this blog!

Reel Girl asking readers to spam LEGO Facebook page

2011-12-25T15:39:00.001-08:00

Notice how they seem to be focused on the pool set, calling it a "hot tub" when in fact it's a Splash Pool. They conveniently omit the Inventor's Workshop, or others which were released publicly at the same time.

The LEGO Group's 1981 advertisement SPARKsummit uses in its campaign is merely one ad featuring girls TLG has put forth over the decades.

In that advertisement the word "beautiful" is actually there as a description of the creation the girl built -- that it wasn't necessarily a "set" nor did it have uniform colors like sets it is still beautiful.

Link to article: http://blog.sfgate.com/mmagowan/2011/12/21/new-legos-for-girls-get-triple-s-for-sterotyping/

Just because there are no pink bricks visible in the 1981 ad isn't because LEGO didn't make pink bricks at the time; the very creation itself as being "beautiful" is to which the ad is referring. The very act of any gender using LEGO bricks in a spatially-imagined creation is beautiful in the eyes of the beholder.