Greenpeace volunteers arrived early this morning to close and secure the road, ready for more than 50 kids, and their parents or guardians, to safely enter the play street for their vibrant protest.
The children constructed a polar bear, walrus and snowy owl reaching up to seven feet high. The giant bricks are made from reinforced cardboard and will be donated to a local school after LEGO ends its deal with Shell.
Nearly 700,000 people have already signed a petition calling on LEGO to end its deal with Shell.
Elena Polisano, Arctic campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “LEGO’s endorsement of Shell is incredibly damaging because it helps Shell hide its role in the threat to the Arctic. LEGO is trusted by parents and kids around the world so if LEGO says Shell is OK, people believe it. But Shell is responsible for huge climate-wreaking carbon impacts and now it’s determined to drill in the Arctic. It’s a fragile environment and an oil spill would be devastating. And of course the only reason Shell can even reach the oil is because global warming is melting the ice.
“Children are leading this playful protest because global warming, and what’s happening in the Arctic, is an enormous threat facing all children. LEGO is adored by kids, and it has a responsibility to look out for them. It’s unethical for LEGO to partner with any company that’s threatening kids’ future.”
Sue Palmer, UK childhood expert, independent consultant and author of best-selling book ‘Toxic Childhood’, said: “It is completely inappropriate for an oil company responsible for huge climate impacts to advertise its brand on children’s toys. Children's love for favourite toys goes very deep and can influence their attitudes throughout life, so it's immoral to cynically exploit that special relationship. Shell is using LEGO to normalise its toxic brand to the next generation, as well as employing ‘pester power’ to make parents around the world buy more Shell petrol. This deal is bad news for children. Its time LEGO lived up to the standards it sets itself by ditching this deal with Shell.”
In its report out 1 July to launch the campaign, Greenpeace accused LEGO of putting sales above its commitment to the environment and children’s futures. It called for LEGO to stop making toys with oil giant Shell’s branding on, because it helps Shell to normalise its brand and gain support for its plans which threaten to devastate the Arctic.
Since 2012, Shell’s Arctic programme has faced fierce criticism from environmental NGOs and regulators. In that same period 16 million [1] Shell-branded LEGO sets were sold or given away at petrol stations in 33 countries [2], making it one of the largest promotional lines LEGO has ever produced [3].
Nearly 700,000 people have signed a petition urging LEGO to end its deal with Shell. Greenpeace attempted to deliver the petition to LEGO twice, and both times LEGO refused to accept it. Read LEGO’s statement and Greenpeace’s response.
Greenpeace released a video for the campaign, ‘LEGO: everything is NOT awesome’, which reached 3 million views in three days before YouTube suspended the video after a complaint from Warner Brothers. Later that day the complaint on YouTube was lifted and the video went back up online. It’s now had over 5 million views on YouTube.
Ends
Notes to editors:
Contact Ellen Booth, ellen.booth@greenpeace.org
07807 352020
For photos visit photo.greenpeace.org
or email photo.uk@greenpeace.org
See the petition page for the campaign for Lego
to drop Shell at:
www.legoblockshell.org
Read more:
LEGO is keeping bad company: no more playdates with Shell.
Media briefing on Shell’s threat to the Arctic
End notes:
[1] Shell Lego Vimeo, Iris Worldwide, 2013
[2] Information provided by Shell to the Mirror on 9 July 2014.
[3] Shell Lego Vimeo, Iris Worldwide, 2013
