Shell needs all the help it can get PR-wise. So who better to help the oil giant's image than a cool toy retailer. Yes, sad but true. Shell has wooed Lego into a partnership that has already seen 16 million Shell-branded Lego toys for sale in gas stations in the UK and elsewhere. After all, today's kids are tomorrow's customers, and an affiliation with Lego can only cast Shell in a more positive light.
Greenpeace is so pissed about the whole thing that it staged a campaign this summer to push Lego to reconsider its position—by any means possible. The environmental activists first added "mini-figure protesters" to displays at Legoland Windsor, and made their own spoof version of the "Everything is Awesome" Lego Movie theme song (in this case, depicting mini-figures drowning in crude oil.)
Because Greenpeace was met with locked doors when it tried to present a 115,000 signatures-strong petition to Lego's headquarters in England, it is going back to the drawing board to find ever-more creative means of taking down Lego.
Greenpeace isn't above using children as part of its ploy, as they are the very individuals that Shell is targeting by affiliating with Lego, and attempting to make its brand "appear synonymous with family values."
The idea being that if/when Shell begins drilling in the Arctic, that positive association will still be intact in the minds of consumers, particularly the next generation.
Want Lego to ditch Shell? Have your say.
You tell me: is it insidious for Lego to partner with Shell? Would you consider boycotting their toys as a result?
Do your kids love Lego? Here's how you can host an awesome Lego party. What do you think about this tidy and free way to build with Lego?
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