We Hate Plastic. We Love LEGO. The Irrational Power of Branding.
Why do consumers reject plastic packaging but love LEGO bricks? The answer lies partly in consumer psychology and the emotional power of branding. People don't judge products purely by what they're made from. They judge what those products mean to them. LEGO demonstrates how creativity, nostalgia, quality and emotional attachment can change the way we perceive a material.
We hate plastic. We love LEGO.
Plastic bags? Get rid of them.
Plastic straws? Ban them.
Plastic packaging? Too much of it.
Plastic bricks? Give us more!
The LEGO Group has built one of the world’s most loved brands out of the very material we’re trying to eliminate from our lives.
And nobody seems particularly bothered.
I don’t see people protesting outside LEGO stores demanding an end to plastic bricks.
Why is that?
Same material. Different meaning.
A plastic straw is something you use for five minutes and throw away.
A LEGO brick is something you play with for years. You build things. You create things. You remember things.
You might even pass it down to your children.
And there’s an important distinction. LEGO bricks are designed to last. They’re not single-use plastic. LEGO is also investing heavily in more sustainable materials.
But here’s the thing!
When we see LEGO, we don’t see plastic. We see possibilities.
We see creativity. Imagination. Childhood. Happiness.
The material hasn’t disappeared. Our perception of it has changed.
That’s what great branding does.
We like to think we’re sensible, rational human beings.
We weigh up the facts. We consider the alternatives. We make sensible decisions.
Yeah, right.
We buy with our hearts and justify with our heads.
And when we love a brand enough, we’re remarkably good at finding reasons to love it even more.
That’s not to say LEGO should get a free pass on its environmental responsibilities. It shouldn’t. But it does demonstrate something extraordinary about human behaviour.
The same thing can mean something completely different depending on the story we attach to it.
The real power of a brand.
LEGO doesn’t just sell plastic bricks.
It sells the joy of making something out of nothing.
And that’s the difference between a product and a brand.
A product is what you make. A brand is what people make of it.