In the video, "GoldieBlox vs. the Big Sister Machine," Big Sister prescribes her ideals of beauty and perfection to young girls. Little Sister - a girl inspired by GoldieBlox's lead character Goldie - rebels against the mantra, breaking the girls free and leading them to a world of possibilities - all set to "Help I'm Alive" by Metric.
It's crucial that we constantly remind our girls of their potential and their ability to be original. At an early age, society teaches them that pink, purple and princesses are the norm and its imperative to continue to give them more options. Popular dolls on the market today point to professional themes like entrepreneurism, medicine and science, yet only hint at these careers through fashion and wardrobe choices. So while other dolls are built for fashion, Goldie is built for action.
GoldieBlox doesn't just sell toys; the company is on a social mission to change the way we think about toys for girls and inspire the next generation of female engineers. GoldieBlox believes there are millions of girls out there who are engineers, but just don't know it yet.
Research shows that an early interest in science and engineering is a better indicator of the likelihood of pursuing a career in these fields than school grades. Toys aimed at boys have inspired them to become builders and inventors, while toys for girls largely ignored those building blocks. Debbie Sterling, who studied engineering at Stanford, created GoldieBlox to change the equation and show girls that it's normal to take an interest in engineering and possibly even pursue it as a career.
After a year of research and observing playgroups, Debbie found that girls typically prefer to build within the context of a narrative. The Goldie action figure brings the beloved character Goldie to life while encouraging spatial skills with the accompanying construction set (and she comes with a zipline!). In playing with the action figure, girls develop an understanding of suspension as they follow the prompts in the accompanying book to build a 13" zipline. The construction pieces are newly engineered for a great play experience and are all compatible with other GoldieBlox sets.
GoldieBlox went from Kickstarter to Toys 'R' Us in less than a year, and is now available in more than 1,000 local retail locations across the country. Its widespread popularity caused the company to completely sell out product during the 2013 holiday season, and become the first startup to have a commercial during the Super Bowl.
