This collection examines LEGO from an array of critical and cultural studies approaches, foregrounding the world-renowned brand's ideological power and influence. Given LEGO’s status as the world’s largest toy manufacturer and a transnational multimedia conglomerate, Cultural Studies of Lego: More Than Just Bricks considers LEGO media's cultural messages; creativity with and within LEGO artifacts; and diversity within the franchise, including gender and race representation. The chapters’ in-depth analyses of topics including LEGO films, marketing tactics, play sets, novelizations, and fans offer compelling insights relevant to those interested in the LEGO brand and broader trends in the children’s popular culture market alike.
How profound is a little plastic building block? It turns out the answer is “very”! 22 chapters explore philosophy through the world of LEGO which encompasses the iconic brick itself as well as the animated televisions shows, feature films, a vibrant adult fan base with over a dozen yearly conventions, an educational robotics program, an award winning series of videogames, hundreds of books, magazines, and comics, a team-building workshop program for businesses and much, much more. Dives into the many philosophical ideas raised by LEGO bricks and the global multimedia phenomenon they have created Tackles metaphysical, logical, moral, and conceptual issues in a series of fascinating and stimulating essays Introduces key areas of philosophy through topics such as creativity and play, conformity and autonomy, consumption and culture, authenticity and identity, architecture, mathematics, intellectual property, business and environmental ethics Written by a global group of esteemed philosophers and LEGO fans A lively philosophical discussion of bricks, minifigures, and the LEGO world that will appeal to LEGO fans and armchair philosophers alike
This book offers rich critical perspectives on the marketing of a variety of toys, brands, and product categories. Topics include marketing undertaken by specific children’s toy brands such as American Girl, Barbie, Disney, GoldieBlox, Fisher-Price, and LEGO, and marketing trends characterizing broader toy categories such as on-trend grotesque toys; toy firearms; minimalist toys; toyetics; toys meant to offer diverse representation; STEM toys; and unboxing videos. Toy marketing warrants a sustained scholarly critique because of toys’ cultural significance and their roles in children’s lives, as well as the industry’s economic importance. Discourses surrounding toys—including who certain toys are meant for and what various toys and brands can signify about their owners’ identities—have implications for our understandings of adults’ expectations of children and of broader societal norms into which children are being socialized.
Sometimes radical yet always applicable, Brick by Brick abounds with real-world lessons for unleashing breakthrough innovation in your organization, using LEGO--which experienced one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent history--as a business model. As LEGO failed to keep pace with the revolutionary changes in kids' lives and began sliding into irrelevance, the company's leaders implemented some of the business world's most widely espoused prescriptions for boosting innovation. Ironically, these changes pushed the iconic toymaker to the brink of bankruptcy, showing that what works in theory can fail spectacularly in the brutally competitive global economy. It took a new LEGO management team--faced with the growing rage for electronic toys, few barriers to entry, and ultra-demanding consumers (ten-year old boys)--to reinvent the innovation rule book and transform LEGO into one of the world's most profitable, fastest-growing companies. Along the way, Brick by Brick reveals how LEGO: - Became truly customer-driven by co-creating with kids as well as its passionate adult fans - Looked beyond products and learned to leverage a full-spectrum approach to innovation - Opened its innovation process by using both the "wisdom of crowds" and the expertise of elite cliques - Discovered uncontested, "blue ocean" markets, even as it thrived in brutally competitive red oceans - Gave its world-class design teams enough space to create and direction to deliver built a culture where profitable innovation flourishes Whether you're a senior executive looking to make your company grow, an entrepreneur building a startup from scratch, or a fan who wants to instill some of that LEGO magic in your career, you'll learn how to build your own innovation advantage, brick by brick.
The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction provides an overview of the study of science fiction across multiple academic fields. It offers a new conceptualisation of the field today, marking the significant changes that have taken place in sf studies over the past 15 years. Building on the pioneering research in the first edition, the collection reorganises historical coverage of the genre to emphasise new geographical areas of cultural production and the growing importance of media beyond print. It also updates and expands the range of frameworks that are relevant to the study of science fiction. The periodisation has been reframed to include new chapters focusing on science fiction produced outside the Anglophone context, including South Asian, Latin American, Chinese and African diasporic science fiction. The contributors use both well- established critical and theoretical approaches and embrace a range of new ones, including biopolitics, climate crisis, critical ethnic studies, disability studies, energy humanities, game studies, medical humanities, new materialisms and sonic studies. This book is an invaluable resource for students and established scholars seeking to understand the vast range of engagements with science fiction in scholarship today.
The law of passing off protects traders from a form of misrepresentation that harms their goodwill, and consumers from the market distortion that may result. This carefully-crafted work seeks to delineate two intertwined aspects of goodwill: substantive and structural goodwill. It argues that the law of passing off should focus on protecting structural goodwill, and that this in turn allows traders’ authentic voices to help shape the substantive goodwill to attract custom for them in the marketplace.
This second, thoroughly updated edition of The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents, and Media analyzes a broad range of complementary areas of study, including children as media consumers, children as active participants in media making, and representations of children in the media. The roles that media play in the lives of children and adolescents, as well as their potential implications for their cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral development, have attracted growing research attention in a variety of disciplines. This handbook presents a collection that spans a variety of disciplines including developmental psychology, media studies, public health, education, feminist studies, and the sociology of childhood. Chapters provide a unique intellectual mapping of current knowledge, exploring the relationship between children and media in local, national, and global contexts. Divided into five parts, each with an introduction explaining the themes and topics covered, the Handbook features over 50 contributions from leading and upcoming academics from around the globe. The revised and new chapters consider vital questions by analyzing texts, audience, and institutions, including: media and its effects on children’s mental health children and the internet of toys media and digital inequalities news and citizenship in the aftermath of COVID-19 The Handbook’s interdisciplinary approach and comprehensive, current, and international scope make it an authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to the field of children’s media studies. It will be indispensable for media scholars and professionals, policy makers, educators, and parents.
Tough topics are inescapable for journalism and mass communication academics. If it’s in the news, journalism and mass communication instructors have to discuss it in class. In Testing Tolerance, Candi Carter Olson and Tracy Everbach of the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women bring together a broad range of perspectives, from graduate students to deans, in conversation about ways to address tough topics in and out of the university classroom. Helping instructors navigate today’s toughest topics through discussions of the issues and pertinent terminology, this book provides hands-on exercises and practical advice applicable across student and instructor levels and disciplines. Readers will gain an understanding of the issues and acquire tools to address these topics in sensitive, yet forthright, ways.
How to Raise Empowered Girls in a Princess World! It's no secret that little girls love princesses, but behind the twirly dresses and glittery crowns sits a powerful marketing machine, delivering negative stereotypes about gender, race, and beauty to young girls. So how can you protect your daughter, fight back, and offer new, less harmful options for their princess obsession? The Princess Problem features real advice and stories from parents, educators, psychologists, children's industry insiders that will help equip our daughters to navigate the princess-saturated media landscape. With excellent research and tips to guide parents through honest conversations with their kids, The Princess Problem is the parenting resource to raising thoughful, open-minded children. "a very insightful look at our princess culture...Parents—this is a must read!" — Brenda Chapman, Writer/Director, Disney/Pixar's BRAVE
