Lego has been criticised as sexist for featuring a comic strip that said girls would “stick out like sore thumbs” among a group of scientists.
The cartoon featured in the latest issue, number 66, of the Lego Friends magazine, which is targeted at girls aged between seven and 11.
The scene shows two characters having a conversation about going to a meeting.
“I think we should secretly go to the meeting too, just in case Carter tries something sneak,” one says.
The other character responds: “You’re right, but we won’t be able to just walk right in. A group of girls among researchers – we’ll stick out like sore thumbs.”
The group of girls eventually decided to dress up as bakers and give out muffins so that “nobody will suspect a thing”.
The comic strip has since come under fire from social media users, with many taking issue with the fact that the group of girls were shown to dismiss any involvement in the science industry and chose to do baking instead.
A number of people on Twitter called the scene “sexist” and said that Lego should be “ashamed”.
Tweeting at Lego and the organisation Let Toys Be Toys, which campaigns against gender stereotypes in the toy industry, one person wrote: “Both my children love Lego, and this makes me want to run in the opposite direction.
“Sort out your magazines, this is an embarrassment to your brand.”
Another agreed, adding: “Would you please stop telling my daughter and other girls that they can’t become scientists, that research is boring, and that they’d better bake and cook? It’s 2019, not 1959. Remove this #sexist crap”.
A third person commented: “This looks like someone has written it to try and wind people up. Really surprising from Lego. More like a parody of old, tired, sexist clichés.”
A spokesperson for Lego has since apologised and admitted that the comic strip “missed the mark”.
“We believe that LEGO play is for everyone and our magazines should reflect that,” the spokesperson said.
“With this story we were trying to show that girls have lots of different interests and passions including science but we appreciate that some of the language we used missed the mark this time and we apologise.
“We will certainly learn from this and do better in future.”
Earlier this year, a four-year-old girl wrote to Lego asking for better female representation in its magazine after she discovered that of the 29 characters who spoke in the magazine, only one was female.
“To Lego Magazine people, can you put some more girls in your magazine please?” she wrote.
Following the complaint, the toy company revealed that it would be inviting the young girl to help edit an upcoming issue of the magazine.
“Providing her parents allow her to do this, we’re confident that she can help us improve the magazine and that we can learn a lot from her… after all, children are our role models,” a spokesperson for Lego said.
