Eric Worrall writes: WUWT readers might recall a nasty but successful Greenpeace campaign a few months ago, which had Santa Claus drowning in oil, seen above, and pressured LEGO Corporation into not renewing its deal with Shell, by spoofing the LEGO “everything is awesome” advertising campaign. Now it appears LEGO is fighting back, with a big “up yours” to Greenpeace by pushing their Arctic exploration collection with an advertising campaign of their own..
While the collection has been out since April 2014, LEGO is now stepping up advertising of their Arctic collection on Aussie TV, which features what looks very like toy arctic oil rigs, icebreakers, and Arctic construction equipment. Kids can fantasize about venturing into the frozen wilderness, to extract the fossil fuel which keeps the lights burning. It looks like fun – I’m going to buy one for my kid.
The following is the original Greenpeace spoof. Why Greenpeace targeted LEGO sales in service stations is a bit of a mystery. Presumably Greenpeace wanted parents to buy their kids unhealthy sweets instead of educational toys, when stopping to fill the gas tank.
They should have a research ship stuck in the ice…with the Chinese rescue ship stuck near it and a fossil fuel using helicopter descending to rescue the tourists and crew.
That will have to wait until they present an Antarctic collection….
YEAH !! A Shell ™ (R) helicopter and lots of little Lego people dressed in green all very drunk and singing silly songs.
Crude oil has been burping up out of the Earth and washing up on beaches for eons maybe that’s how life began?
Just sayin’.
Not likely, considering the oil comes from dead critters.
No, it’s also produced by solely geological processes.
Any kid with imagination will be doing that anyway!
They should also sell a LEGO version of the Russian Port of Murmansk, and little plastic greenpeace ship (fossil fueled) that children can practice impounding.
LOL! Post of the day!!
And they can add a bonus set that depicts a Murmansk jail full of Greenpeacers enjoying full Russian hospitality such as organic, gluten free gruel and cold, fossil free cells
Anyone got a 3D printer? 🙂
And what is the resin injected from the nozzle in a 3D printer made from .
Same petroleum compound in plastic Lego Bricks .
And a free list of monthly low temps in Murmansk and above the Arctic Circle, where Russian, Alsaskan, and Canadian people live! (:
I believe it may have been to try to break off the relationship between Lego and Shell give that Lego blocks are made out of “fossil Fuel” and have been since their introduction in the 1940’s. But why they target Shell (partnered with Lego) with the Arctic thing is a bit odd since EXXON is in a partnership to someday develop what may be the biggest oil basin in the world in the Russian Arctic once sanctions are removed preventing EXXON to continue working with Russia at the moment. Such things are temporary. I don’t think Greenpeace has gotten much right since Amchitka …. 😉
This reminds me of something that James Delingpole wrote recently:
“For too long, big businesses like Shell have sought to escape the attentions of leftist attack dogs like Greenpeace (much as shopkeepers in Little Italy used to pay protection money to the Mob) by paying lip service to all the green orthodoxies and sponsoring worthy green causes.”
It’s nice to see companies like Lego giving Greenpeace the finger. I have a lot more respect for companies that stand their ground than for those that capitulate to their blackmail. I wish our politicians would do the same.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/10/10/Shell-Oil-LEGO-Greenpeace-and-the-environmental-movement-s-war-on-capitalism
Let’s get Lego Arctic for Xmas for kids in the family – I’d like it to be a big seller for the company.
I see a polar bear comes with the icebreaker kit (but why on earth does it have a fish in its mouth??).
I’ll buy some for my grandchild (due to be born within the next few weeks!).
Polar bear research would be NOWHERE without oil money:
“Oil money helped fund the Ph.D. research of polar bear biologist and Polar Bears International spokesperson Steven Amstrup (Amstrup and Durner 1995), and made possible a number of other critical research projects in the early days of polar bear research that might not have been possible otherwise (Stirling et al. 1993; Stirling and Lunn 1997).” See more here: http://polarbearscience.com/2014/03/27/oil-money-provided-the-foundation-of-polar-bear-research-now-its-greenwash/
Modern polar bear research cannot be done without helicopters (that use aviation fuel) – they are used for aerial population counts and for all mark-recapture work that puts satellite radio collars and ear tags on bears. http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/our-work/research-programs/polar-bear-population-studies
Without helicopter and the fuel to fly them, there would be virtually no scientific data on how polar bears in the wild are doing.
Besides, I was raised with LEGO – they were my favorite toy and my children’s favorite toy. A ship AND a polar bear? I’d have loved to have had that…
Agree with the above. All the ice bergs should have extra patches where you can stick all the research vessels and rescue vessels.
Every year each kid should receive a bunch of extra ice blocks to stick on top of the existing mass.
With every Greenpeace ship (which you can stick to the Russian Port model for a few months) you also get a Shell Oil ship to supply it.
“The following is the original Greenpeace spoof. Why Greenpeace targeted LEGO sales in service stations is a bit of a mystery.”
No it’s not. Brainwashing kids is core tenet of Gramscianism / Cultural Marxism (and also of any suicide cult there ever was).
Right you are. This was excerpted from an American Cancer Society’s web page …. like 10 years or so ago, to wit:
“The first national Great American Smokeout was held in 1977. During the next 25 years the Smokeout was celebrated with rallies, parades, stunts, quitting information, and even “cold turkey” menu items in schools, workplaces, Main Streets, and legislative halls throughout the US. The Great American Smokeout has helped to spotlight the dangers of tobacco use and the challenges of quitting, but more importantly, it has set the stage for the cultural revolution in tobacco control that has occurred over this period”.
As a behavior modification trial run via mass advertising it was very successful (then again, how many people enjoy breathing others’ smoke?).
I personally know 4 people who lived well into their 90s and smoked all of their adult lives . They were my grandparents and great grandparents. Even my mother is 70 and has smoked since she was a teenager. I think that the whole CAGW thing is alot like the overreaction to tobacco. The debate is over even though my own eyes and experiences have caused me question my own sanity on both issues.
I am not feeble minded. My background education is chemistry and i make my living as a metallurgist. I formally studied atmospheric chemistry as part of the curriculum back in the mid nineties when we had only 10 years left before it was too late to save the world from industrial pollution. CFCs, CH4 and CO2 to a lesser extent back then.
My professors had PhDs and i trusted what was taught.I Have become cynical and climatology is something that i laugh at rather than respect as a science. Chemistry is a pure science and mathematics and physics are its language. The collection of the raw data is commendable but i believe that the interpretation of the data in climatology is either criminal or just political.
@ Mick. Oct 25 2014, 5.22pm.
With respect, while I am very pleased that your mother and other relatives have enjoyed longevity despite being smokers, I however, have lost a number of relatives and friends to smoking related diseases, namely cancer and heart disease. Gone too soon.
I wish you and yours continued good health and many more years ahead to enjoy.
Eamon.
http://humanevents.com/uploads/2012/07/obamas-you-didnt-build-that-spin-destroyed-in-1-5-minutes-620×451.jpg
Dope: Duh…. “… you didn’t build that.”
Little Girl (in photo): Did. You don’t know ANYTHING.
Dope: Do too.
LIttle Girl: Okay, then, how many states are there in the United States?
Dope: Wuh…wuhhhh… one hundred… not counting the red ones, hyuck, hyuck, cuz they don’t count.
Little Girl: Nope, Dope. Wrong — again.
***********************************************
And here’s the original Dopism:
at 00:47… “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
Barack Hussein Obama, July 13, 2012
Published by goprapidresponse on You Tube
@Janice Moore,
Thanks. I think 😛
It is nice to see you. I hope you found what you were looking for. Zeke
Every time I see that I’m still amazed. Amazed that ANY moron could possibly have voted for him twice (first time, sure, we all do stupid things, right?). Amazed that his handlers still can’t manage to keep his stupid mouth shut. Amazed that the ultimate “didn’t get there on his own” believes that the same is true of everyone.
I have a business. I made it on my own. NOT because someone else helped, in fact, DESPITE others, all of whom told me it would never work and many who were actively trying to ensure that it didn’t. The only help I got was from “experience”, and she’s not very nice at all. You screw up, she’ll laugh in your face, and usually throw an “I told you so” out at the same time.
Hillary’s new take on this anti-business theme is,”You didn’t hire them!”
@Code Tech
Hillary: ‘Don’t Let Anybody Tell You’ That ‘Businesses Create Jobs’
Breitbart News – 3 days ago
The left and global progressives on the right think that commercial activity is a special class privilege, which they have always controlled. That is a re-write of history. Pray they will say what they are really thinking.
What I don’t understand is the point Greenpeace was trying to make with their video. Lego toys covered with chocolate syrup does sound pretty awesome. Am I missing something?
Yes, Brian. You are a very naughty boy.
Children have been studying ways to cause legos on the floor to stick to parents’ feet for decades. Chocolate was the missing ingredient!
Not at my house… chocolate has never, EVER been missing, in any context 🙂
Yes! You are missing tne Graham Crackers!
And the marshmallows
“Presumably Greenpeace wanted parents to buy their kids unhealthy sweets instead of educational toys, when stopping to fill the gas tank.”
All part of the dumbing down process I suspect. No need to furnish young healthy minds with thoughts of exploration & adventure & discovery! Who needs educated children? Under their glory document children who are educated have a higher “Carbon Footprint”. Therefore they must have a limited education, according to Agenda 21! They want them ignorant so that they can rule with a little knowledge, & as Shakespeare said, “A little learning is a dangerous thing!”
In Europe, or the Peoples Democratic Republic of the European Union, to be precise, there are some 14 special private schools in which children of those who work for the EU in various capacities, are educated at public expense to be “good Europeans” to promote the cause. They will never make any Virginian Colonies (damn it we should never have lost that war! 😉 ), You’re next!!!! & Mr Obama is doing very nicely it would appear by using the EPA to make public policy! Be very wary good people of America!
I just ordered the Base Camp collection for my grandson.
Classic!!
And down the other end in antarctica-
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20120013495
“Mass Gains of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Exceed Losses”
sorry, already covered by WUWT in 2012.
I dunno, Lego might still be trying to avoid Greenpeace’s wrath. The descriptions at Amazon describe “Mysterious Crystals” that they are harvesting. Clathrate hydrates perhaps?
I call sarcasm – isn’t “mysterious crystals” what greens want us to use to power what is left of our civilisation, if they get their way? 🙂
They aren’t “mysterious” crystals, they are dilithium crystals!
Gripping dilithiuim crystals was self-evidently incompatible with long life and prosperity – hence IIRC it was never recommended.
Mysterious crystals formed by yellow snow?
Greenpeace have had more than a few setbacks this year. The bum’s rush out of India, bosses jetting everywhere, the Ruskies impounding their boat and now Lego giving them the bird.
Pointman
And how about Canada revoking tax-free charitable status to Greenpeace, anti-oil sands groups, etc. because of their political pressuring and campaigning tactics. And, this is by both Left and Right political parties! I think this international push-back topic deserves an article here at WUWT, although I have seen some individual stories here.
Gary:
I thought that was just talk. Did the gummint in Canada actually revoke their charitable status?
Wow, must be plenty of oil in the Arctic, looks like we’ll be drowning in it. Though never trust models!
re arctic modelling, plenty of orange and blue bricks in the video, green pieces don’t get a look in.
Brillliant reply!
I never realised before that the climate models were made of Lego. I think I can see where they might be going wrong now.
I love this from the Lego website.
Lego oil rig
http://cache.lego.com/media/nxtlog/dc8c7b33-d3cc-4413-8b54-1848b2057e0d/800×673/GalleryFile.png
Meanwhile at the other end of the world ..
http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2014/05/08/tip-of-the-iceberg-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-reveals-science-expedition/
“We had to club some seal to make way for our equipment obviously but all for a good cause.”
A seal goes into a bar.
“What’ll you have?”, says the bartender.
“Anything but a Canadian club”, replies the seal….
(sorry…dating myself I suspect with those CC ads….)
Compare and contrast this……
to this…..
Greenpeace will have fun if they take their biodiesel into the Arctic – biodiesel turns to jelly in cold weather.
doesn’t like sitting around unused either, found that out in a tractor.
No diesel likes sitting around unused. Found that out when I owned a boat, every few weeks I had to pour some terrifyingly toxic broad spectrum concentrated biocides into the fuel tank, to stop scum from growing in the diesel. This is why I laugh every time someone makes silly claims about natural systems being unable to cope with breaking down oil spills – the problem is stopping the bugs from growing in the oil.
“– biodiesel turns to jelly in cold weather.”
———————–
Can they “cut” the biodiesel with kerosene to keep it from “jelling” up …. like is done with the “fossil” diesel fuel?
You think they would convert to sails.
Don’t forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Esperanza
she’s double the weight and nearly as fast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Esperanza
green peace ship –
“The ship has a heavy ice class,[clarification needed] giving it the ability to work in polar regions”
Classic .
And the electricity comes from where? I bet from a fossil fuel power plant
lol, Jimbo — nice expose.
Someone educated in psychiatry needs to come up with an official name for greenpeace peoples depressed, fatalistic, unhopefull, fanatisistic, emasculating world view. By now it is clear, for all to see, that it must be an mental disorder. No sarcasm, I have no other words to describe this.
How about: “Gang Green”
My uncle has always been a dour, humourless, pious prig of a man, his sanctimoniously misanthropic world view over-riding any other consideration, including the possibility of that world view being wrong and unhealthy. I always felt sorry for his children – suffering continual bowel problems from a strict diet of wholemeal organic roughage, they weren’t even allowed the joy of any battery powered toys (despite availability of recycling and rechargables – bad for the environment), and a fun day out would be considered to be stuck on the back of a tandem bicycle for hours on end. Wealthy, but mean to a fault, he would live a life of stoic denial of any comfort or cheer, extending also to his family, and in his censorious, disapproving manner, the world around him. Now, wasted away to almost nothing but an unkempt beard and pair of judgemental eyes, I wonder if he ever really believed in anything, but was instead driven solely by fear of the world around him and a deep seated inadequacy and self hatred, projected outwards onto society.
When I look at the modern environmental movement, particularly Greenpeace the more vocal messengers of climate alarmism, I see thousands of my uncle, clamouring not to improve the world or environment, but to impose control over others and make the world predictable and safe for their fragile psyche, often yearning for a fictional purity of living and ‘simpler world’ that has never existed in any place or point in human history. I know there are rational environmentalists who recognise that mankind has been the custodian of its environment since we crawled out of our caves, and that realistic environmentalism is a matter of balancing the benefits of progress with the potential harm of excess (bearing in mind that crawling back into those caves is not an option). Any positive, useful and beneficial action or message however is now being drowned out by the incessant screeching and pomposity of this group of egotistical swivel eyed eco-clowns, fresh from their last ruined ’cause’, and ready to hijack the sane yet again with their own frantic self-loathing. With the default boredom and f***k you response this behaviour will eventually elicit from normal, regular people, they will be doing untold and irreversible harm to genuine environmental concerns, which, outside of a small increase in a beneficial trace gas with no demonstrable correlation to temperature, are great and many.
How sad. I hope that your cousins have recovered from this; indeed, that your uncle can change….
The prisons we build for ourselves are often such that no sane man would build for his worst enemy…
Thank you.
Let us pray for his peace of mind. But if his “faith” is that there is no God, then he may never experience peace of mind.
JJB MKI This is a difficult and powerful statement. It deserves a wide audience as a cautionary tale. Thank you for sharing.
Makes them feel like they are doing something – which fills the frustration gap that they aren’t doing something. Now if they started something like “Habitat for Humanity”, but instead went around greening communities with solar hot water, solar energy, geothermal, upgraded housing efficiency (insulation, draft-proofing, vapour barrier etc.), funded research into improved appliance efficiencies (the most efficient refridgerators I had heard are some DC models which are ideal for battery banks charged by solar) and on and on. Fight the enemy by providing viable, realistic, obtainable alternatives and undermine their customer base!
Ps. I did hear it described by a commenter at JoNova as ‘malignant narcissism’, but not sure if this is an official term or condition..
Greenplague?
Green-Psychosis.
Greenplaque?
Condemncension disorder? The need to con and/or condemn those who are not as superior as you?
spew,
You are on the right tract. Start with the fact that all humans have cognitive bias’s.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
Once we think we know something, even if it’s wrong……… it doesn’t matter if information to contradict it comes in at a 20:1 ratio, we filter the new information based on our belief system. If it confirms our belief, we store it as knowledge, if it contradicts our belief, it gets rejected.
All of us here suffer from this sort of cognitive bias because we are human. However, when you are applying the scientific method, which by definition, requires that you not follow your human emotions/psyche, rather, follow the empirical data, then your cognitive bias should be minimized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
With Greenpeace, it’s 100% cognitive bias and 0% scientific method.
Amplify that by providing them a blank check with money and a power, because it’s assumed that their position represents the environmental and moral high ground. This creates an entity with no oversight which allows cognitive bias to get out of control. In this case, no oversight of an organization with extreme intentions, has extreme results.
That is Greenpeace today.
How’s that spew?
@Gunga Din
Condemncension disorder, I like it, but it’s one of two parts because it’s mixed with an defeatistic sadness, but your right about the first part. It is also hard to pinpoint 🙂
@Mike Maguire
Sure, cognitive bias mixed with cognitive dissonance, and all of it emotional garbage rhetoric based on a fanatical world view. It sure feels like an religion.
It is also a part of something bigger, or thats my view on history. Civilazations gets built by rational, inquisitive, objective and thruth seeking people. And civilazations gets torn down by irrational, biased, subjective, emotional people.
I wonder if an Audit of green policies was done, would it show a net increase in the use of toxic materials?
I am thinking of “Green” electric cars powered by highly toxic batteries charged by fossil fuel generated electricity, Exhaust systems full of toxic exotic metals. Solar panels created with power from fossil fuel etc etc etc.
Any ideas anyone?
Hey Greenpeace PLASTIC IS MADE FROM OIL!
I want to see $$Green-peace$$ and of the other eco-hypocrites live without plastics and other products made from petroleum. Maybe they can campaign to have plastics eliminated from hospitals. To say they are brainless is an insult to brainless people.
And kudos to LEGOs. This is a lesson to all of us – DO NOT LET THE PC FASCISTS WIN! The minute extremists like $$Green-peace$$ start dictating what a toy company can or can not sell is the day we give up our freedom and liberty. Same for people who want to rename sports teams and school mascots, and those who wish to ban food they don’t like (while on the other hand giving a wink and a nod to the potheads). Who’s to say what is acceptable and what’s not?? IF WE DON’T FIGHT, WE LOSE!
Perhaps I’m missing something, but I don’t see anything having to do with oil exploration or extraction in this particular Lego set of sets. The lack thereof to me unfortunately signifies submission to Greenpeace, not an “up yours” to them.
The creative child can build the oil exploration infrastructure using plain Legos. Perhaps we at WUWT can supply some assistance for this… 😉
At LEGO’s web site you can down load a designer program to build anything you want in a virtual 3D model with all of their currently available blocks. My son enjoys it on occasion, but the real deal he finds much more attractive. But then, he’s eight.
Wonderful! Dare I suggest that they should also include little protester figures – unkempt, with placards and scowls rather than smilies? It would really complete the scene!
Made my weekend. Thanks!
Not forgetting of course some polar bears BBQing a penguin, with the appropriate Cola beverage nearby (thereby winding up everyone arguing about which pole has bears, ice, penguins, Cola, and so on 🙂 ).
(There’s a cartoon about this somewhere on WUWT, but I’ve forgotten where it is….).
‘I’ll watch from the helicopter while Jim wrestles the Polar Bear!”
Thanks, Marlin!
” Just as Jim is struggling with that polar bear, you may be struggling with financial uncertainty. At Mutual of Omaha…”
I always loved the segues to commercials on “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”
I believe shell give hansomly to the greens. They organise and pay for lavish hotel accommodation for green conferences. Shell pay huge sums of money for advertising their “all of the above fuels” doctrine including conferences on ciries of the future, transport w/o fossil fuels etc.
Lego is getting a few points back from me.
The Lego Ice Breaker ship is my favorite.
Greenpus pollutes all minds, yound and old with their anti-oil, anti-fossil-fuel, anti-human, anti-science propaganda.
Can you get one of the Icebreakers complete with a banner saying “MV Akademik Shokalskiy (Ship of Fools) Rescue Team Funded by the Australian Tax Payer” ?
The purpose of that fiasco was to justify the cost of a bigger, better ice-breaker for Australia.
So news to me, does the Greenpeace fleet of party ships run on solar panels? That would be interesting to see. The folk who fund these nutters needs to look carefully at their dough and start applying some commonsense.
Nice one Lego!
Wooo Hooo!!!
Gonna start drilling for some oil. Maybe I’ll import and set up an Emperor Penguin colony. That should be fun with the polar bears and all!
I’m against the tactics of Greenpeace as anyone here, but I still fail to see how this advertising campaign by Lego is somehow an “up yours” to Greenpeace. GP itself probably does its share of ‘exploring’ (read: cruising around searching for anything to exploit for leftist political gain) in the arctic, but that doesn’t equate to having anything to do with oil, or gas.
The whole premise of the article is a reach, WUWT. It’s not helpful!
These exciting toys show kids that there are exciting careers in oil. Much better than being a Greenpeace luddite.
Except that they actually don’t show anything regarding ‘careers in oil’. That’s my point. I doubt Greenpeace would have any problem with this set of sets.
Gary, Greenpeace and other Environutist don’t want Man to have any impact on Nature since they seem to be of the opinion that anything Man does is not natural. (Or so their handlers tell them.)
Here’s a little background.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/10/09/danish-toy-maker-lego-wont-renew-marketing-deal-with-shell-after-greenpeace/
Yes Gunga, I know the background, and I’m as against Greenpeace as you are. What I’m attempting to get through here is that the premise of this article falls flat. The advertising campaign by Lego regarding arctic exploration steers well clear of anything having to do with petroleum. That is why I contend that this is anything but an “up yours” to GP by Lego. If anything, Lego is submitting.
I wish they had told GP “up yours” from the beginning, but they’re apparently cowards along with all the rest of those one might wish would stand up to this kind of ginned-up bullying. Lego needs to be made aware that they’re being targeting by a very few political operatives masquerading as the many, and that the the last thing they should do is submit and play their game.
That Greenpeace spoof was too funny and pretty worrying at the same time. But I am not giving up my Lego Tecnic kits (8043 and 8110, which are not cheap) anytime soon.
Lego says their toys are for 6-12 year olds… Just like Greenpeace?
I know what my boys are getting for xmas
Patrick Moore on Greenpeace
How about a kit with a bunch of walrus’s haulouting
“Why Greenpeace targeted LEGO sales in service stations is a bit of a mystery. Presumably Greenpeace wanted parents to buy their kids unhealthy sweets instead of educational toys, when stopping to fill the gas tank.” I think it’s much simpler and not mysterious at all. Greenpeace wanted publicity and got it.
How about a BP oil rig – when finished it spontaneously explodes.
When finished before it explodes it employs hundreds of people and generates millions in corporation tax.
Hopefully children all over the world will have learned a useful lesson from this. Lego is good, Greenpeace is bad.
LEGO is made from plastic and that comes straight out of crude oil, no fossil fuel industry, no plastic and then where will we be ?
Santa drowning in oil? This is vaguely reminiscent of “Piss Christ”. I wonder if Green-“peace” received NEA funding. The emotional and political appeal must have an artistic value to someone.
Anyway, while Santa may not like concentrated deposits of oil (CO2, etc.) in every context, he must acknowledge that it is an important nutrient in the food chain, and a product of the Earth system’s secular recycling process, both organic and inorganic.
We don’t have teevee (got no use for all the boring mental swill) so I don’t know what the point of the ad was. If oil is on the down side of peaking, how can Santa be drowning in oil? [shrug]
As for Shell Oil, they are one of the most predatory multi-nationals on earth. They don’t give a sh*t about the 3rd world people whom they poison and murder while stealing their mineral resources with the ingratiating help of 3rd world dictators. Devils, all of them.
P. S. Kill your teevee…