Lego Screwed Up it’s Own Message with Movie Merchandise
I took the kids to see The Lego Movie the other day. And yes before you even go on asking, it was awesome!
The movie met all my criteria for a good kids movie. The comedy was funny for both parents and kids, there was one single song (this Mama don’t do musicals) that the kids could sing for a day without me wanting to poke my eyes out, and I didn’t feel like it was a waste of money. As a mom I left super happy at the overall message of the movie, that Legos are supposed to be played with not put upon a shelf to be admired. The storyline that children’s imagination is the key to the Lego universe and that order and going along with instructions defeats the purpose of Legos had me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. I was beginning to feel like Lego was my kind of company and that I was willing to look past their insane price tags and give them a full pat on the back for being an upstanding toy company. I was even on the verge of overlooking their creation of “girl” Legos… well not really, but they were looking a bit better than Disney when I left the movie theater.
It’s All About the Sales
My warm and fuzzy feeling quickly left my body when I got to Target the next day and walked into the toy aisle. What the hell happened? I found myself staring at a box of Legos, priced at some ungodly amount, that basically took a mix of a bunch of stuff I had at home and slapped The Lego Movie logo on it. Here kids rebuild this scene from the movie with this $69.99 kit featuring all your favorite characters! Did anyone at Lego see the part of the movie where the kid shows his father all the amazing things he created by taking apart all the picturesque worlds? You know the part where Lord Business transforms from tyrannical dictator to fun loving guy????? Or what about the part where all the Lego Minifigures from years past get together in one room?
Leave it to marketing to miss the point! Or was it all just a ploy by the folks at Lego to get rid of all the loose pieces they had lying around the factory? Did someone say, “Hey I know how we can make a profit off all these unfinished kits. Let’s make a movie so we can box them all up and sell them at outrageous prices!”?
If you visit the Lego website dedicated just to The Lego Movie merchandise you get even more mixed messages.
BUILD AND PLAY THE SCENES!
Throughout these play sets, vehicles, characters and buildings from THE LEGO® MOVIE™ come to life. Whatever the high-speed action, your child can pick their own ending, time and time again
Well hats off to you Lego for your sneaky way of getting us parents to dole out more cash all in the name of fostering our children’s creativity. I would rather pull out the box of random Legos we already have and let my kids build and create without a visual aide or instruction booklet.
Hipshaking Mama 