Subject:
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Re: LEGO being used in politics! (help me in my dilemma)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 29 Sep 2002 22:52:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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241 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Marchetti writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Pedro Silva writes:
> > So, here come my questions: how legitimate is it to use a toy as a means for
> > political expression? <etc>
>
> In my opinion, bricks are long enough in the tooth to be considered more of
> a "medium of expression" rather than just a toy.
Bricks, yes. But what if the bricks are recognised as "LEGO" by anyone in
the country? Does it affect the brand name?
> A mere brick is pretty dull
> in and of itself. When you break it down, a single brick is not much of
> anything -- it's just the means to an end. So I don't know why building with
> Lego brand bricks should be considered different from sculpting with clay of
> the "Play-Doh" brand, or painting something with "Windsor & Newton" brand
> oil paints, or any similar such activity with whatever brand of choice.
> Lego is the means to do a thing, not the thing expressed itself.
>
> Do I need to mention that if all one wants is to build with basic bricks,
> they don't necessarily even have to have "Lego" stamped on them? Brand
> loyalty is a personal issue and not actually a requisite of the activity of
> building with bricks.
My point is there, precisely; LEGO is a universal brand, and like "Coke", it
can be used to describe a range of products from *other companies* in
colloquial speach. So LEGO is involved, forcebly - even if it is a clone
brand being used, which it was clearly not the case.
Play-Doh, OTOH, is not a name stamped on the product, nor it is practically
synonimous of "plasticine/clay" (at least here). So I don't think I can
compare to other brands... it's one of those cases where the strong brand
name of LEGO is at stake, I suppose.
What bugs me is that this is a toy, that is used by either the rich and the
poor, the liberal and the conservative, boy and girl,... get it? When a
party "appropriates" the toy for its propaganda actions, it may in a way
alienate other users of the same toy...
Now, if another party intends to "retaliate" with the same means, what can
they do? Will they build a chopper (1) out of LEGO??? That I wanna see!
> BTW, what made you think this was off-topic?
I was in doubt about the proper place. Mediawatch was not really that good,
since there are no photos on-line for me to share. General is not the best
place, it may be argued this has only local interest... Fun was an option,
but between that and Debate I suppose debate is more adequate to the kernel
of my doubt (which has to do with the political appropriation of the toy as
legitimate or not)
Pedro
(1) another issue, this time against the socialists; when in office, they
bought choppers that were never delivered...
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