I watched this heartbreaking commercial the other day. What made it so heartbreaking? Have a look… (don’t worry it’s not graphic or anything).
It’s hard to believe that one of my FAVOURITE childhood toys is affiliated with an oil company in such a disastrous way, so I decided to look into it a bit more. In my mind there was no way a toy company who makes products for children could be contributing to jeopardizing their own target market’s futures. It’s very strange and twisted if you really think about it.
According to Greenpeace;
Shell’s global advertising deal with LEGO is part of a carefully thought-out strategy by Shell to buy friends who can make its controversial Arctic drilling plans look acceptable and misleadingly associate it with positive values.
This made me more interested in what Shell was trying to do with their partnership with LEGO. They wanted to cover up the fact, or even make it acceptable, that they were planning to drill in the Arctic. To give you guys a quick background on what has been the latest and (least) greatest of the Shell sitch, essentially they want to drill in the Arctic because the Arctic potentially holds up to 30% of the earth’s undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its yet-to-find natural oil. Shell makes the argument that for our future to thrive, we need to tap into these resources now to secure us the necessary energy supplies. That’s a bunch of bs. If we didn’t tap into these resources, I’m sure society can find another means of energy (solar, hydroelectric, bioenergy, geothermal, tidal-power, wave-power, wind, etc.)…like puh-lease. We are already exploring, using, and improving on these natural and sustainable energy resources so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t be able to make the switch from fossil fuels.
But back to LEGO. So the partnership stated that LEGO was supposed to create a toy set that promoted Shell and it was to be sold in all Shell gas stations which would in-turn promote their partnership . This was meant to convince customers that they are actually a well respected and well loved company by its consumers that even children’s toy companies wanted to be affiliated with them. Apparently LEGO’s partnership with Shell dates back to 1960; and they had resigned a long term contract beginning in 2011. Since the Artic drilling plans issue had surfaced, lobbyists began to take drastic action; hence the video above. The launch of Greenpeace’s Everything is NOT Awesome forced LEGO to take their stance on the matter into some serious consideration. At the beginning of Greenpeace’s campaign, LEGO was resistant to the notion of quitting their partnership with Shell. Much hesitation developed due to the high profits that the partnership brought in. However, after much controversy and 3 months of persistent petitioning on behalf of Greenpeace supported by over a million Save-the-Arctic disciples, LEGO decided to back out of their long term contract .
Greenpeace’s actually took action in more ways than one; quite inspirational actually:
1. Viral Video
We already all watched the video, but in case you haven’t.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4
2. Children Play to Protest
Dozen of children came together to build life-sized arctic animals out of LEGO and left them on the doorstep of Shell’s Headquarters in London. You can also check out the really cute video: here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl86W4yl4tA#t=31
If children can be this concerned about the environment, why can’t adults as well??
3. The Rise of the LEGOlution!!!!
The LEGOlution began in Hong Kong on July 28 2014 at the Ani-Com and Games convention. The LEGO booth was invaded by a life sized polar bear (which was actually two people in a polar bear costume) and a “frightened” LEGO man with Shell written on his shirt. Their mission was to bring awareness to the controversial “conservation practices” that LEGO claimed to be performing in partnership with Shell. This very soon spread world-wide to countries including France, England, United States and Argentina.
4. Invasion of LEGOland
Greenpeace used tiny LEGO people belaying with “Save the Arctic” posters from atop Shell gas stations within LEGOland in Billund, Denmark. I’m sure LEGO felt a bit uneasy that their own products were used to protest on their own stomping grounds. That’s the equivalent to the Disney Princesses holding a protest in Disneyland…
5. LEGO lovers spoke out
With the help of Greenpeace’s viral video and persistent efforts on their behalf, over a million LEGO lovers worldwide emailed the corporation begging them to quit their inappropriate partnership with Shell. This went to show the incredible power of worldwide collaboration and a global movement.
With all that being said, I did a bit of background research in how LEGO has become a sustainable company and what their future actions include on the matter. I am pleased to say I was impressed with the approach that LEGO has towards sustainability after the Shell situation; they address all three tiers, People, Profit and Planet. In terms of the environment, LEGO manufactures their products close to their target markets. In doing so, they reduce their carbon footprint and ensure that the products are made up to standard. LEGO is in the works of using 100% renewable energy within their entire supply chain (from manufacturing plants to offices, and wherever else possible) by 2020, as well as they are pursuing ways to create a zero-waste future within the company and its products. They currently recycle as much as possible, but are continually trying to improve on that aspect.
In terms of the people and proft, they require all suppliers and business partners to sign their Code of Conduct. The LEGO Group Supplier Code of Conduct covers human rights, labor rights, health and safety, anti-corruption and environment. LEGO is also apart of the ICTI CARE Process, which is the ethical manufacturing program of the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI), with the purpose of ensuring fair labor treatment, justly pay, and safe working conditions.
There are so many other great initiatives that LEGO has in place; I encourage everyone to look into it because it’s quite impressive. Now I know that LEGO is being built with plastic and many people are probably going to ream me out on it, but I’m happy to say that I can defend them on that matter. LEGO bricks are actually made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene which is a recyclable plastic. In the LEGO Sustainability Report they touch upon “Sustainable Play” which ensures that LEGO bricks have the capability to last generations;
Bricks that are not passed on to family or friends are often sold second-hand. We call this Sustainable Play. The resilience and long-life of LEGO products supports our Play Promise by extending play value over time. It also opposes a culture of ‘play and throw away’, helping to support our Planet Promise.
The also include a “Design for Disassembly” which states that;
Design for Disassembly is about designing a product so it can be separated into base elements of materials at its end-of-life. Each element can then be reused as raw material for new products.
I believe these initiatives make the world of difference when it comes to a company. Small steps such as considering a life cycle analysis (see my previous post to read more about LCA) I believe add much more value to a company and their products. It’s safe to say that LEGO is definitely a company I would feel comfortable buying from.
Lastly please take 5 seconds to sign the petition below to stop Shell from Arctic drilling. I know sometimes it’s annoying when people ask to sign things you may not be interested in, but I believe our world should be of interest to everyone living in it. We have a chance to change it for the better and in the grand scheme of things everything that happens on this planet will eventually affect everyone to some degree. We need to take action as a whole in saving our earth because if we don’t take care of it then there’s no one else who will. The petition link can be found below..
Reference:
https://act.greenpeace.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1844&ea.campaign.id=29635
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/tech/home
http://www.shell.com/global/future-energy/arctic.html
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/how-lego-got-awesome-savethearctic-20141009
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2014/07/29/140729-Greenpeace-LEGO-Protest.aspx
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1561201/bear-faced-cheek-it-lego-protest-hits-ani-com
Living Sustainably 