The following ad contains images which may permanently destroy your childhood memories. Viewer discretion is advised.
That might be an appropriate warning for a new PSA released by Greenpeace, which depicts Lego characters drowning in oil. The environmental group commissioned the ad, entitled “Everything is NOT Awesome,” to oppose Lego’s continuing partnership with Shell.
The 2 minute clip opens to a happy Lego landscape, complete with polar bears and Lego people frolicking in the Arctic. But the background music–a harrowing, muted rendition of “Everything is Awesome”–foretells disaster. Cue drills, Shell Lego trucks, and a sinister-looking Lego oil baron smoking a cigar. Oil spills soon ruin the idyllic Lego tableau, and one by one, all the formerly happy Lego figurines–from Lego fish to a Lego couple–drown in oily goop. Just in case you are still not traumatized, one of the final images of the ad is the tear-streaked face of a Lego boy as he is slowly engulfed in black oil.
For all of its melodrama, the ad quickly went viral, hitting over 2 million views on YouTube only two days after it was posted by Greenpeace. The ad is part of the group’s campaign to pressure Lego to break off its partnership with Shell and to stop production of Lego toy sets which bear the Shell logo. According to Greenpeace, “Shell is using Lego to clean up its image for dirty oil drilling” and the Shell-branded Lego sets “pollute” the imagination of kids. However, a break-up between the two companies would be sticky, because Shell provides Lego with the natural gas and petroleum the toy company uses to produce Lego toys, Mashable reports.
In his response to Greenpeace’s campaign, Lego CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp effectively told the environmental group to leave Lego out of the fray.
“The Greenpeace campaign focuses on how Shell operates in a specific part of the world. We firmly believe that this matter must be handled between Shell and Greenpeace,” Knudstorp said. “We are saddened when the LEGO brand is used as a tool in any dispute between organisations.”
At risk to your happy childhood memories, watch the complete ad below:
