Lego will not renew its marketing deal with Shell after Greenpeace published a video criticizing the toymaker for its association with the oil company.
Published in July and titled "LEGO: Everything is NOT awesome," the two-minute video shows a Lego landscape drowning in oil. Greenpeace's message at the end of the video, which attracted nearly 6 million views on YouTube, claims Shell is "polluting our kids' imaginations."
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As part of a "co-promotion" with Shell, Lego frequently releases Shell-branded toy sets.
Initially, Lego shook off Greenpeace's campaign, claiming the matter "must be handled between Shell and Greenpeace." Now, however, Lego CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp claims the company will honor its marketing contract with Shell, which was signed in 2011, but will not renew it after it ends.
"We continuously consider many different ways of how to deliver on our promise of bringing creative play to more children. We want to clarify that as things currently stand we will not renew the co-promotion contract with Shell when the present contract ends," Kundstorp said in a statement.
In a blog post, Greenpeace welcomed the move, saying it's a "huge blow to Shell's strategy of partnering with beloved brands to clean up its dirty image as an Arctic oil driller."
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