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Subject: 
Re: Are *we* part of TLG's problem?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 24 Oct 2004 05:18:21 GMT
Viewed: 
699 times
  
In lugnet.general, Ahui Herrera wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Chris Gray wrote:

   All good points! And while we (AFOL) might be contributing to the overall problem like you show we are a small percentage of the problem. AFOLs for all their wallet power (AKA $$$) are only a very tiny fraction of the total sales of LEGO.

The biggest problem with LEGO (in my opinon) are the kids and their culture themseleves! Kids grow up (or think they are more grown up) faster than every before. I remember playing with LEGO and my GI Joes until I graduated 11th grade in high school *cough* when I traded those in for girls. *cough* =)

My baby sister is in 10th grade and do you know that last time she played with a toy... 4th grade! 4th grade! I asked her freinds during her brithday party a few months ago in private if they still played with any type of toy (I was building a tie bomber at the time) and of the 15 boys and girl she had over only the boy scout kid (admitted to me that he still plays with hot wheels!) The rest stop playing with their toys whenthey got to middle school (6th grade)!

As is typically of most US kids the boys (which LEGO is really target for) don’t play with cars, action figures or LEGO. They play with video games! Those few that do play with the other toys eventually get “pushed” into the video game relm due to their friends. So you see we might contribute to the problem but the US “kid culuture” is the biggest factor. The US market has stopped marketing to “teens” and are now hitting the “tweens (age 8-13)” with all the stuff they use to hit the teens and young adults with.

Even if you have a “tween” who still plays with toys s/he won’t admit it to his/her peers. They might play alone but in the end the peer pressure is too great and the toys go out the windows for a cellphone, “dating”, “hanging out at the malls”, etc...

The age of inoccence as we knew it is no more. TLC as all the other toy makers have a smaller and smaller window to capture the attention of the kids.

That boys and girls is the major problem in the US Market.

-AHui

I agree. It’s the “Kool Kids” culture that Madison Avenue advertising (can you say “low-carb food”) and Hollywood (TV/Movies) propogate. No wonder the rest of the world hates the USA (well that and our current president).

But I don’t think that we buy up all that much discount Lego to cause any problems. Just the opposite. I’m sure that most AFOL’s have either kids, nieces and nephews, or the kids of friends, that have had Lego purchased for them on birthdays or holidays. Besides my 6 nephews and nieces, I have purchased Lego for the children of 4 friends and have gotten them interested in Lego. So we are all Lego Ambassadors that do much more good than harm!

Gary Istok

A Lego addict since 1960

P.S. Some of the folks on the “Lego in China” thread are making wild accusations before anything has even happened. I won’t even go there.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Are *we* part of TLG's problem?
 
(...) All good points! And while we (AFOL) might be contributing to the overall problem like you show we are a small percentage of the problem. AFOLs for all their wallet power (AKA $$$) are only a very tiny fraction of the total sales of LEGO. The (...) (20 years ago, 24-Oct-04, to lugnet.general, FTX)

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