After a 7-year-old girl wrote a letter to Lego earlier this year, expressing her discontent with the Danish toy company's offers of female figurines, she made an effort that would absolutely change Lego’s trend in toymaking.
Charlotte Benjamin wrote in her letter, "There aren't enough girls — and the ones the company has made just "sit at home, go to the beach, and shop," while the boy characters "saved people, had jobs, even swam with sharks!"
"I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures...ok!?!" Charlotte added.
At that time, Lego officials guaranteed Benjamin that they were actually thinking of a fresh female set. Now, Lego has made good on its promise.
The company debuted a Research Institute play set on its website recently. The creative set was designed by geophysicist Ellen Kooijman on Lego Ideas, the crowd-sourced design platform, the collection features three female scientists: an astronomer, a paleontologist and a chemist.
In a blog post, Kooijman wrote: "As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets: a skewed male/female minifigure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures."
She added that she hoped her designs would "make our Lego city communities more diverse." This adds more options for the consumers and at the same time, expand their market target, which are young girls.
The new research kit, which includes a telescope, a T-Rex model and a lab set, was selected by Lego Ideas, a program that lets customers submit their own suggestions for projects. In what could be a total coincidence, the company said it was reviewing the set for possible production just two days after Charlotte's letter has gone viral.
The collection launched today was sold $20, and it sold like pancakes. According to Lego’s official site, it will be available for purchase again later this month.