I spent most nights of November/December 2011 stocking the toy aisle of Target, and when I got placed on the presentation (visual merchandising) team, the first reset we did was the toy section. So I know whereof I speak.
I'm quite comfortable in saying that the decision by Lego to market pink Legos has absolutely ZERO to do with gender politics or the desire to reify gender norms. Go into your local Target (or Walmart, or whatever). Look at the way the toys are merchandised. It will become obvious very quickly that there are distinct boy aisles and girl aisles. Blue backing paper for the boy aisles, pink for the girl aisles. Stocked in the girl aisle? Dolls, barbies, fake makeup kits, etc. In the boy aisle, trucks, fake guns, Nerf, etc. Oh, and Legos.
So toys are merchandised in an EXTREMELY gender-normy way. Now, think like a Lego executive. Your toys are *actually* gender neutral, but they are getting shelved in the 'boy' section, literally because the colors of the legos and lego boxes correspond more obviously with blue and therefore boys colors. Not to mention there are a lot of lego toys that aren't bricks and those are often cars, trucks, military themed, etc - in other words, boy stuff in the eyes of your friendly neighborhood planogram designer, and your friendly neighborhood planogram designer wants to keep all toys of the same brand in the same sections and not spread them out across different aisles.
In other words, because of the way toys are merchandised, Lego had NO shelf space in the girl aisles. Again, this is not Lego's fault. So if you're that Lego executive, you have a few choices. 1) Keep with the status quo. Legos are super popular already. Who cares if there are zero legos in the girl section. 2) Expand your brand and your shelf presence by creating pink Lego sets, thereby increasing your customer base and the likelihood that girls will buy not only the pink legos, but the regular legos as well. I'm sorry, but you have to go with #2. Notice that there was no option 3) completely revamp the way toys are merchandised in America -- close to impossible and not Lego's responsibility anyway. I see their merchandise as less "Pink Lego" and more "Dollhouses sold under the Lego brand designed to make parents and kids then want to explore more products sold under the Lego brand."
A perspective from a former merchandiser
I'm quite comfortable in saying that the decision by Lego to market pink Legos has absolutely ZERO to do with gender politics or the desire to reify gender norms. Go into your local Target (or Walmart, or whatever). Look at the way the toys are merchandised. It will become obvious very quickly that there are distinct boy aisles and girl aisles. Blue backing paper for the boy aisles, pink for the girl aisles. Stocked in the girl aisle? Dolls, barbies, fake makeup kits, etc. In the boy aisle, trucks, fake guns, Nerf, etc. Oh, and Legos.
So toys are merchandised in an EXTREMELY gender-normy way. Now, think like a Lego executive. Your toys are *actually* gender neutral, but they are getting shelved in the 'boy' section, literally because the colors of the legos and lego boxes correspond more obviously with blue and therefore boys colors. Not to mention there are a lot of lego toys that aren't bricks and those are often cars, trucks, military themed, etc - in other words, boy stuff in the eyes of your friendly neighborhood planogram designer, and your friendly neighborhood planogram designer wants to keep all toys of the same brand in the same sections and not spread them out across different aisles.
In other words, because of the way toys are merchandised, Lego had NO shelf space in the girl aisles. Again, this is not Lego's fault. So if you're that Lego executive, you have a few choices. 1) Keep with the status quo. Legos are super popular already. Who cares if there are zero legos in the girl section. 2) Expand your brand and your shelf presence by creating pink Lego sets, thereby increasing your customer base and the likelihood that girls will buy not only the pink legos, but the regular legos as well. I'm sorry, but you have to go with #2. Notice that there was no option 3) completely revamp the way toys are merchandised in America -- close to impossible and not Lego's responsibility anyway. I see their merchandise as less "Pink Lego" and more "Dollhouses sold under the Lego brand designed to make parents and kids then want to explore more products sold under the Lego brand."
So in short I am worked up about this not at all.