LEGO’s Latest Message to Young Girls: Ditch ‘Perfect’

Jessie Ayles celebrates the creative power of girls in her latest work for LEGO. The film is the second instalment of Lego’s ‘Play Unstoppable’ campaign, which aims to challenge gender stereotypes and empower girls. The series comes after the brand commissioned global research into the societal trends affecting children’s creative confidence. The study—of more than 61,500 parents and children between five and 12 years old across 36 countries—revealed that girls’ confidence in their creativity declines as they get older.

In Jessie’s film, we watch as parents observe the internalised messages exhibited in the girls’ attitudes toward playing with LEGO, and discuss the measures they plan to take for building their creative confidence. It explores how small changes to our language can make a big difference, removing the pressure for perfection and allowing girls to play unapologetically.

The majority of parents also noted that gendered descriptions are commonly used to assess the creative outputs of male versus female creators, with terms such as “pretty,” “cute” and “beautiful” commonly attributed to girls, while words such as “brave,” “cool” or “genius” are more often applied to boys. For Lego, these findings are extremely meaningful, as it views itself as a champion of creativity.