Greenpeace attacks Lego in second anti-Shell partnership video
Greenpeace has released a second attack video on Lego showing young girls plead with the Danish toymaker to cease its endorsement of Shell on some of its products.
The video, created by UK creative agency PGA, is a follow-up to the controversial ‘Lego: Everything is Not Awesome’ video showing Shell’s destruction of the Arctic after an oil spill. This was briefly taken down from YouTube after a Time Warner copyright complaint last month.
The video features three young girls, Robin Gilbert, Chen Mingzhu and Florencia Simms speaking English, Mandarin and Spanish respectively - three of the most commonly spoken languages in the world.
Lego and Shell have so far refused to engage with the charity campaign which last week staged a 50-kid protest outside Shell's London headquarters.
Additionally, the environmental charity launched a global competition asking kids to build Arctic creatures with Lego to raise awareness of the species allegedly endangered by Shell’s operations.
Sara Ayech, Arctic campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Lego’s promotional deal with Shell is really damaging, because it helps Shell pretend it’s a caring, family-friendly company. In reality, it’s not. Shell wants to drill in the Arctic.
“But a spill there would be impossible to clean up and the only reason they can even drill in the Arctic is because climate change is melting the ice. That’s something that threatens all kids around the world.”
Ayech added: “Children and parents are Lego’s core customer base, and the fate of the Arctic is important to them. We’re hoping this video and competition will inspire a whirlwind of creativity and action among young Lego fans that Lego just won’t be able to ignore.”
A spokesman for Shell told Channel 4 News: “We respect the right of individuals and organisations to engage in a free and frank exchange of views about meeting the world's growing energy needs.
"Recognising the right of individuals to express their point of view, we only ask that they do so in a manner that is lawful and does not place their safety or the safety of others at risk."
Lego has twice declined to accept a petition with over 700,000 signatures instead saying it intends to honour the agreement which Shell calls "productive and successful".
Since 2012, Greenpeace estimates that 16 million Shell-branded Lego Ferrari sets have been distributed from petrol stations in 33 countries.