LEGO Faces Boycott Calls Over 'Transgender Building Sets'

LEGO is the latest company facing boycott calls amid outrage over its A-Z of Awesome campaign, which supports the LGBTQ+ community.

Last year, the LEGO Group announced the launch of its campaign as part of Pride Month—which takes place every June—to raise awareness of the identities and stories of those in the community.

The debate surrounding the LGBTQ+ community has become increasingly politicized in recent years. Some conservatives have taken issue with companies that show support for or associate themselves with LGBTQ+ rights.

With the current discourse surrounding other companies' campaigns in support of the LGBTQ+ community, attention has misguidedly been turned to LEGO.

British influencer Oli London—who previously identified as transracial, gender neutral and transgender—shared one of LEGO's videos on Twitter over the weekend. The clip gave further insight into the A-Z of Awesome campaign.

The video was introduced as "the A-Z of awesome—a LEGO celebration of the beautiful, powerful language of the LGBTQIA+ community."

A voiceover in the clip said: "We invited members of the community to build LEGO creations to represent their true stories."

The line of LEGO "offers a universal, but most importantly a safe space to express yourself and be who you are," said one participant, while another commented that the concept behind their build was "you see this colorful unique LEGO brick to represent a happy, healthy intersex person."

A participant called Jeannie explained: "What I built here was a transgender garden, so all these different aspects of gender have their place in that garden."

Captioning the clip, London, who serves as a spokesperson for Caitlyn Jenner's political action committee Fairness First, wrote in a since-deleted tweet: "LEGO turns TRANS!"

"Children's toy maker LEGO has released an LGBTQI+ range featuring transgender building sets for kids age 5+," London continued. "Lego described the new range as 'a colourful alphabet of identities and definitions made from LEGO bricks.'"

Countering the claims made by London, a LEGO Group spokesperson told Newsweek: "The information on Twitter is false. We have not released any LGBTQIA+ sets aimed at children. A-Z of Awesome was a marketing campaign released last year that featured sets built by our amazing adult fans. None of these sets are for sale."

Following LEGO's clarification, London has deleted his tweet criticizing the company.

However, London's post still sparked furor, with one Twitter user commenting that they were "adding [...] #boycottlego" to their "collection of boycotts."

"I have three nephews and two grown brothers who request LEGOs every birthday/Christmas. Not now. Never buying again," wrote another.

"Not @LEGO_Group too!" said another detractor. "We loved you, LEGO, for being fun and staying out of politics. I guess my four kids and I will be going elsewhere for innocent kids' toys going forward."

"Please let @LEGO_Group be the next company to lose billions," urged another. "Go woke, go broke."

Amid the outcry, a number of Twitter users pushed back on the criticism, with one saying that LEGO has "the money to cancel any boycott, otherwise they would not have started [the campaign]."

"Conservatives call us snowflakes then get triggered by LEGO," wrote another, while a third wrote that "grown men boycotting LEGO is funny because they are admitting to playing with LEGOs as grown a** men."

"You all are so stupid," another tweeted at the army of LEGO critics. "Nobody is pushing anything, you make your own choices with your money. Nobody has a gun to your head forcing you dumb f****** conservatives to buy LEGOs."

LEGO has dedicated a section of its website to its A-Z of Awesome campaign, which is described in a video as "an alphabet of builds created by LGBTQIA+ LEGO fans. Each build is an interpretation of a meaningful word."

The company announced in April that its A-Z of Awesome LEGO creations would go on display at LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. The display will debut on June 8.

Back in April, a video went viral on social media showing an enraged LEGO store customer accusing the company of having an LGBTQ+ agenda. The customer berated multiple store employees for wearing LGBTQ+ badges, alongside the others they had on as part of their uniform.

Reacting to the clip, a LEGO Group spokesperson said: "The safety, wellbeing and security of our LEGO retail colleagues is our absolute priority, and we will not tolerate abuse of any kind.

"We are committed to building a more kind, empathetic and understanding society now, and for future generations, and stand by all our colleagues who do that every day by making everyone feel welcome in our stores."

LEGO joins a host of companies facing boycott calls, including Target, which has been criticized for its clothing and accessories for LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Critics have called for the retailer to receive "the Bud Light treatment."

Beer brand Bud Light has been embroiled in controversy since the beginning of April, after it sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate her first year of transitioning to a woman. The move sparked calls for a boycott, and industry data shows sales of Bud Light declined more than 17 percent across the month.

They are not the only brands to have recently faced boycott calls over pro-LGBTQ+ marketing. In April, whiskey maker Jack Daniel's caused outrage after teaming up with three drag queens for a Pride Month promotion—despite the campaign being nearly two years old.

A number of detractors have also vowed to step away from a range of brands including Starbucks, Nike and Adidas for campaigns and collaborations featuring LGBTQ+ people.

Prior to that, chocolate makers Hershey's faced a similar response to an advertising campaign in February after including a transgender rights activist's face on special chocolate bar wrappers in Canada for International Women's Day.

Meanwhile, Miller Lite has recently faced calls by conservatives for the brand to be boycotted over its two-month-old commercial, which highlights the historical role that women played in beer brewing.

Update 5/30/23, 12:35 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from a LEGO Group spokesperson.

Update 05/31/2023 9:41 a.m. ET: This article was updated to say that London has deleted his tweet criticizing LEGO.