This Wednesday, toy manufacturer Lego announced it would end its partnership with oil and gas giant Shell

Oct 9, 2014 11:31 GMT  ·  By

Following a 3-month campaign organized by environmental group Greenpeace, Lego has finally agreed to divorce Shell. Thus, this past Wednesday, the toy manufacturer announced that it would not renew its marketing contract with the oil and gas giant.

Greenpeace was quick to congratulate Lego for its decision to cut all ties with Shell, pointed out that this move would surely deliver a hard blow to the oil and gas company's image. Not that Shell isn't getting enough criticism as it is.

“This is fantastic news for LEGO fans and Arctic defenders everywhere. And 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,” the green-oriented organization said.

How it all started

Those familiar with Greenpeace and its working agenda are probably well aware of the fact that this organization is dead set on keeping Shell from drilling in the Arctic.

What worries members and supporters of this environmental group is that the Arctic is fragile enough as it is, and that oil and gas company Shell is anything but prepared to handle any potential spills.

What's more, they say that, given the urgency to limit climate change and global warming, companies shouldn't even be thinking about the possibility of exploring and exploiting new fossil fuels reserves, regardless of where they might be located.

Looking to overthrow Shell and get it to drop its plans to drill in the Arctic, Greenpeace got to work leaving it without its most precious business partners, one of which was none other than toy manufacturer Lego.

As explained by the organization, Lego toy sets are currently available at Shell petrol stations scattered across 26 countries, and the partnership between the toy manufacturer and the oil and gas giant is estimated to be worth £68 million (€86 million / $109 million).

Hoping to convince Lego to drop this partnership, Greenpeace released a video showing an Arctic made of Lego toys being engulfed by oil. The video was released back in July, and has since been viewed nearly 6 million times. You can find it below.

In true Greenpeace fashion, the “Everything Is NOT Awesome” video was accompanied by protests organized in several countries and an online petition demanding that Lego ditch its contract with Shell as soon as possible. Eventually, the toy manufacturer gave into these demands.

Lego's announcement

As mentioned, it was this past October 8 that Lego announced that it would end its partnership with Shell. Specifically, the toy manufacturer explained that, although it would allow an existing deal signed in 2011 to proceed as planned, it would not enter another contract with the oil and gas company.

“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 honour it – as we would with any contract we enter,” Lego said in a statement.

“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,” it added.

For the time being, the toy manufacturer has refused to make any other comments on its decision to end its partnership with Shell. It did, however, wish to stress that its promising not to renew its contract with the company did not mean that it was a supporter of Greenpeace's agenda.

The environmental group hopes that, now that Lego has taken steps towards greening up its ways, Shell will see reason and drop its plans to exploit the Arctic. As the organization put it, “Now that Lego has quit Shell it's time for Shell to quit the Arctic.”