Lego female scientist playset clicks with consumers selling out in a week
An all-female scientist Lego playset, the release of which came only months after a seven-year-old girl told the toy maker she was saddened by its lack of woman figures, has sold out just a week after being released.
The Lego set sold out in less than a week
The ‘Research Institute’ set, featuring an astronomer, a chemist and palaeontologist, was designed to serve as a positive influence upon young girls, in addition to filling the Lego back catalogue with some much-needed female figures.
Earlier this year, seven-year-old Charlotte Benjamin sent a cute message to the Danish toymaker wondering why there were more male than female mini-figures, it read: “ I want you to make more Lego girl people and let me go on adventures and have fun - ok!?!
“All the girls did was sit at home, got to the beach, and shop, and had no jobs,” whereas the males “went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks”.
SMART KID!: 7-year-old girl tells Lego what's up http://t.co/MLqt2xBvC0 - @MetroUK pic.twitter.com/AGvQlU1ioM
— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) February 2, 2014
Similarly, perhaps in an attempt to replicate the young girl's success, Greenpeace kids sent Lego a heartfelt video asking the Danish firm to cease its partnership with petroleum company Shell.
Geophysicist Ellen Kooijman pitched the toy on 'Lego Ideas', a website where individuals can share Lego concepts, she said: “As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets - there was a skewed male to female minifigure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures.
“It seemed logical that I would suggest a small set of female minifigures in interesting professions to make our Lego city communities more diverse.”
This comes after the UK government, and even the Telegraph media group, launched STEM schemes to entice and encourage more females into science, technology, engineering and maths positions.
The ‘Research Institute’ playset sells for £11.85 and can be pre-ordered although no units are currently available.