LEGO / Shell / Greenpeace: LEGO throws in the towel

09/10/2014 - 11:36 Lego news

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The media pressure will have been too strong: LEGO finally announces through the voice of its CEO that its current partnership contract with Shell will come to an end but that it will not be renewed.

This same CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, had however sharply dismissed Shell and Greenpeace back to back at the beginning of the summer and had then declared have no intention of giving up the long-term partnership with the oil giant.

Greenpeace is obviously happy to have succeeded in bending the toy giant (see the press release online) after long months of constant harassment via social networks and through many punching actions organized in public places or in front of LEGO offices.

Moral of the story: Never underestimate the power of a "small" petition and social networks ... All those who predicted that this media harassment operation would be a monumental fiasco are at their cost ...

All that for that: LEGO finally gives in so as not to suffer any longer a bad buzz that harms its image. However, it would have been easier to give in earlier, public opinion would then have thought (rightly or wrongly) that LEGO was throwing in the towel for more "ecological" considerations ...

Some will no doubt say, just to get away with a pirouette, that "ionly fools don't change their mind"...

Below, the press release posted on the LEGO website:

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the LEGO Group, comments on the Greenpeace campaign using the LEGO® brand to target Shell: Children are our major concern and the central focus of our company. We are determined to leave a positive impact on society and the planet that children will inherit. Our unique contribution is through inspiring and developing children by delivering creative play experiences all over the world.

A co-promotion like the one with Shell is one of many ways we are able to bring LEGO bricks into the hands of more children and deliver on our promise of creative play.

The Greenpeace campaign uses the LEGO brand to target Shell. As we have stated before, we firmly believe Greenpeace ought to have a direct conversation with Shell. The LEGO brand, and everyone who enjoys creative play, should never have become part of Greenpeace's dispute with Shell.

Our stakeholders have high expectations for the way we operate. So do we. We do not agree with the tactics used by Greenpeace that may have created misunderstandings among our stakeholders about the way we operate; and we want to ensure that our attention is not diverted from our commitment to delivering creative and inspiring play experiences.

The long-term co-promotion contract we entered with Shell in 2011 delivers on the objective of bringing LEGO bricks into the hands of many children, and we will honor it - as we would with any contract we enter.

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.

We do not want to be part of Greenpeace's campaign and we will not comment any further on the campaign. We will continue to deliver creative and inspiring LEGO play experiences to children all over the world.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, President and Chief Executive Officer of the LEGO Group.

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