As the world once again witnesses adults behaving like kids and going to war for the sake of pride and ego, the kids and their toys are moving on. With a little help, that is, from Lego, maker of the iconic bricks that have engrossed children and adults for 90 years.
In a fascinating shift, the company now aims to inspire tolerance and diversity in play. The unlikely vehicle is a range called Lego Friends.
Now 10 years old, it appears on the surface to be a bland approach to nondescript characters and scenes in an idyllic community called Heartlake City.
In reality, it represents both a new front in the war on intolerance and a creative approach to inclusivity.
“Lego Friends is based on reality play,” says Fenella Charity, creative director of the sub-brand. “Our consumers want to play out real-life stories with characters that represent the real world. They want to be part of a universe that they've built, whereas some of the other product lines might be more for display than for role-playing.”
That’s the start of a rethink of the role played by toys. When Charity was first hired to work on Friends prior to its launch, she told Business Times this week, the brief was “very open” but with a clear goal: “How do we recruit more girls into the Lego portfolio?”
The further challenge, in a “perfect” environment like Heartlake City, was how to balance an idealised world with real life. The answer: celebrate both diversity and imperfection.
“We are reality with a twist. In 2012, Friends was a very harmonious world. It was pretty perfect. But with our new products in 2022, we want to embrace the imperfect. It might be something as small as a burnt cupcake in a tray of cupcakes or dog poop in the pet environment.
“But things like that have been real innovation points for Lego Friends because they've been something our consumers have asked us for: this imperfection of everyday life. It's something we've explored on a story level, character level, and on a model level, bringing those little twists to reality.”
These seemingly trivial twists tie in neatly with the theme announced in January for the Friends range on its 10th anniversary: “Different together”. It is a subtle but brave response to the intolerance sweeping global politics and social discourse.
Says Charity: “A huge part of the 10-year anniversary is this reflection on questions like, ‘Where do we come from?’ ‘Where do we want to go?’ ‘Who am I?’ ‘What am I passionate about?’ It allows us to speak to kids about the fact that what makes people different can also unite them.
“In identifying our differences, we also get to know ourselves better, and we get to understand each other better. It's something we want to embrace in our stories and in our products.
“One example of that is the house model that we launched this year. It's perfectly imperfect. For example, the tree house has some boards that are slightly off. In a Lego way, it's built in an imperfect way on purpose, and it's unfinished on purpose. That's a big turning point for us.”
This representation of the real world then extends to diversity and inclusion.
“We needed to be tuned in to what the real world looks like for a lot of our consumers. We want to talk about backgrounds and ethnicities and skin tones and age. We have older characters, we embrace disabilities. We have a blind character and we have characters in wheelchairs.
“We wanted to represent all of that, as well as representing diverse passions and interests. Being ‘different together’ can make for an amazing bond and friendship.”
• Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za
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