Lego

Friends Notes: Colors Figurines Voice Diction (choice of words) more complicated and advanced in boys Promotes unity--- boys promote individualism PINK AND PURPLE EVERYWHERE- differences in color scheme Welcome to beautiful heartlake city- sweet voice Going to a party Time to chill with the girls Never actually even mention building like they do in the boys commercials Beauty shop Pastel colored Mini figs are different Taller, has curves, wears a miniskirt Baking Stereotypical and limiting roles for women The sets for girls actually dont even encourage building, in fact the pieces only can go together in a set number of ways--- takes away creativity for the girls. Two girls making a heart together at beginning of commercial In an interview with Bloomberg a Lego representative stated, We focused on creating a play experience centered on the joy of creation, while heeding the way girls naturally build and play. This rhetoric used by the Lego Company implies that girls naturally like pink and only care about baking and going to beauty salons. They use divisive rhetoric, which further fosters gender stereotype, it can even help create them. This kind of rhetoric can actually cause a change in society. Bitzer asserts, The rhetor alters reality by bringing into existence a discourse of such character that the audience, in thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes mediator of change. By dividing their intended audience in advertisements, Lego may actually be dividing boys from girls. Girls see these advertisements and can recognize through the rhetoric that the normal Lego commercials are directed at boys, and the Lego Friends commercials are directed at them. In a sense, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since young girls see in the media that theyre supposed to like simply hanging out with friends, going to parties, and beauty salons, they actually begin to take on the identity. However, when looking deeper into the Lego Friends world, there are some uses of rhetoric that seem to overlap gender stereotypes in Lego Friends. One of the characters has an invention station, laden with tools (purple tools, that is) and theres also a veterinarian office. So, with further research, not everything Lego Friends do is filled with gender-limiting rhetoric. It could even be argued that despite the fact most of Lego Friends is advertised more towards playing with the

figurines than building, they still have tiles and have the capability to build different things, but it isnt encouraged in the same way it is with the boy Legos LEGO DINOS Figurines themselves have beards Masculine clothing Heroes saving the city from the dinos Need to use violence YOU CAN BUILD THE DINO TRUCK Use of the word man when saying man your vehicle guns Building never mentioned in Lego Friends Masculine voice narrating