Iconic children’s construction toy brand Lego has made a bizarre marketing move, offering beauty advice to kids as young as six in the latest issue of Lego Club.
We may work in an industry that encourages women, young and old, to embrace all the beauty expertise at their fingertips, but even a veteran beauty therapist would agree there’s a limit to what age that should begin.
And most of us would probably not determine it to be age six.
However, in a bold and somewhat perplexing move, children’s construction toy company Lego has released an article offering its fan base of child readers as young as six, advice to ‘change up (their) look’, with tips for making ‘pretty square faces even prettier’.
It’s a move that has caused an outpouring of social media outrage from parents, with some saying, “Appears that @LEGO_Group has reached a new low with beauty tips being offered to five year olds.”
In an article in the New York Times, journalist and parent Sharon Holbrook said she discovered the hairstyle and beauty advice article in Lego’s magazine when her seven year-old daughter asked her whether she had an oval face.
“It wasn’t even her concern until a toy magazine told her to start worrying about it,” Holbrook said in the Times.
But Lego’s senior director of brand relations, Michael McNally, told Mashable Australia the hairstyle and face shape advice article was created with innocent intentions.
“One particular thing that readers asked us to include was an advice column…In the most recent magazine, we attempted to deliver against this request by elaborating on a current Lego Friends storyline.”
McNally finished saying, “We sincerely regret any disappointment it may have caused. We value this feedback and have already shared with the LEGO Club team in order to positively impact future stories.”
Have your say: Do you think six is too young for girls to be receiving beauty advice? What is the youngest age client you’ve accepted at your salon?