EmailA film depicting an oil-stricken Arctic built from around 120kg of Lego bricks is close to breaking 1m views a day after it was launched.
The "everything is NOT awesome" YouTube short, by London-based creative agency Don't Panic for Greenpeace, is the latest salvo in a campaign by the green group to pressure the world's largest toymaker in to dropping a partnership that distributes its toys at Shell petrol stations. Lego is the proxy target for a campaign that started last week against Shell's ambitions to drill for oil in the Arctic.
Some people have already questioned whether the Greenpeace campaign strikes the right note coming so soon after revelations in the Guardian and Der Spiegel that the organisation lost £3m on currency markets and that one of its top executives commuted to work by plane. Here's one Guardian commenter, for example:
The Lego campaign does appear to be getting some traction – around 250,000 people have signed Greenpeace's petition calling on the Danish company to drop its relationship with Shell.
Lego, though, seems unmoved so far. In a statement responding to the Greenpeace campaign, it expanded on its argument that the relationship helps its mission of doing good, by giving more children its bricks:
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 contract like the one with Shell is one of many ways we are able to bring LEGO® bricks into the hands of more children.
We welcome and are inspired by all relevant input we receive from fans, children, parents, NGOs and other stakeholders. They have high expectations to the way we operate. So do we.
Whether the new film changes that remains to be seen.
Don't Panic was behind the hard-hitting If Britain was like Syria video for Save the Children, and says the new Greenpeace film took about three weeks to build. It's a cover of The Lego Movie's horribly catchy song, Everything is Awesome, voiced by Alex Baranowski and Sophie Blackburn, and, says creative director Richard Beer, was inspired by the similarly static Believe trailer for Halo 3, the hit Xbox game.
As well as Emmet and Wyldstyle, the "lead" characters in the Lego film, apparently the video also features Halo's protagonist Master Chief too (I couldn't spot him – let me know if you can).
• 11 July update: YouTube has removed the video, which had reached 3m views, following a copyright complaint by Warner Bros, the studio behind The Lego Movie. Greenpeace has uploaded it on Vimeo:
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Is this really the best Greenpeace can come up with after their big week of hypocrisy and incompetence? Pitiful and lame. They should storm the Lego factory. Imagine the impact on donations with the 'Lego 30' in prison.