Lego ends Shell partnership following Greenpeace campaign
12 replies, posted
[QUOTE][B]Lego ends Shell partnership following Greenpeace campaign[/B]
Toymaker will not renew current multimillion pound deal, that sees Shell-branded Lego sets sold at petrol stations, following a viral video against Arctic drilling by the green group
Lego will not renew its marketing contract with Shell after coming under sustained pressure from Greenpeace to end a partnership that dates to the 1960s.
The environmental campaign group, protesting about the oil giant’s plans to drill in the Arctic, had targeted the world’s biggest toy maker with a YouTube video that attracted nearly 6m views for its depiction of a pristine Arctic, built from 120kg of Lego, being covered in oil.
Initially Lego had resisted Greenpeace, arguing that it ought to deal directly with Shell, but on Thursday it will relent. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the toy maker’s chief -executive, said Lego would honour its existing deal with Shell, which began in 2011, but “as things currently stand we will not renew the contract with Shell when the present contract ends”.
Lego toy sets are currently distributed at petrol stations in 26 countries, in a deal valued at £68m. Lego had previously argued that the relationship had a positive impact on the world by inspiring children with its toy sets.
Greenpeace activists also targeted Legoland in Windsor by dressing as Lego figures, while the campaign video, entitled “Everything is not awesome” attracted 5.9m views.
[url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/09/lego-ends-shell-partnership-following-greenpeace-campaign]Guardian[/url][/QUOTE]
Here's the video - worth a watch as it's pretty well made:
[video=youtube;qhbliUq0_r4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4[/video]
Unexpected, but good move Lego.
They recently became the largest toy maker too, overtaking Mattel.
Aren't legos made of plastic?
[QUOTE=Ragekipz;46190281]Aren't legos made of plastic?[/QUOTE]
Plastic is made from oil.
[QUOTE=Fisker;46190288]Plastic is made from oil.[/QUOTE]
That was his point halfwit
[QUOTE=Fisker;46190288]Plastic is made from oil.[/QUOTE]
never knew that thanks for telling me brain boy
video is actually pretty cool
Are they going to go back to using the fictional Octan brand name for the petrol based sets then?
Video was pretty well made though, clever marketing by greenpeace for sure
[QUOTE=Ragekipz;46190281]Aren't legos made of plastic?[/QUOTE]
on one hand, its somewhat hypocritical on the part of lego
on the other hand
[QUOTE]
Shell oil paid Nigerian military to put down protests, court documents show
Secret papers reveal that in the 1990s the oil giant routinely worked with the army to suppress resistance to its activities
[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/03/shell-oil-paid-nigerian-military[/url]
so really... fuck shell.
shell was selling for 40cents a litre yesterday and now this
rip
So i guess that sets with Octan petrol stations on it will be never be made again?
[QUOTE={TFS} Rock Su;46190457]So i guess that sets with Octan petrol stations on it will be never be made again?[/QUOTE]
I assume you mean Shell. Octan is a fictional petrol company that was invented by Lego.
[QUOTE=icemaz;46190318]Are they going to go back to using the fictional Octan brand name for the petrol based sets then?
[/QUOTE]
They never stopped.
Here's a list of at least one set from each year from 2007 onwards containing Octan:
2007: [url]http://brickset.com/sets/7993-1/Service-Station[/url]
2008: [url]http://brickset.com/sets/10184-1/Town-Plan[/url]
2009: *can't find example*
2010: [url]http://brickset.com/sets/3180-1/Tank-Truck[/url]
2011: *can't find example, no SHELL sets this year either*
2012: *can't find example*
2013:[url]http://brickset.com/sets/60016-1/Tanker-Truck[/url]
2014: The LEGO Movie. Oh, and for an actual set we got this: [url]http://brickset.com/sets/60053-1/Race-Car[/url]
Yes, there was a two-year gap. However, this gap also at one point had a lack of SHELL sets, so any point regarding that is moot. I was only looking through CITY and Racers, however. Someone else can probably find some better examples. This is only one set from each year mind you, some years had more Octan labeled sets than others.
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