shellgate
TRANSCRIPT
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Karl-Heinz Pogner (Copenhagen): Lego's Shellgate: Ptolemaeus, Copernicus or Castells? From a company-centered stakeholder approach to a network perspective
Bricolage for the Roundtable ''Communication in a Global Crisis
environment''at the ICCM Athens 2015
International Conference on Communication and Management (ICCM2015), 30 March-1 April 2015, Athens– Greece
http://coming.gr/index.php/conferences/
https://scontent-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-
9/481794_256384044489272_1210640035_n.jpg?oh=0750a29d9de9a91335e5bdf1cecc92cf&oe=5574A922
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Lego’s Shellgate:
Excerpts from the timeline
Greenpeace; July 1st
: It is time to block Lego
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/save-the-arctic/blog/49773/
July 11th. 2014 Video goes viral (after it was removed from Youtube)
(BREAKING: Our viral video was removed from YouTube just before it hit 3 million views but now you can
watch it right here…)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=534428913349318&set=vb.190271334431746&type=2&theater
Youtube August 29th: Youtube closes video
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/shell-they-video-they-want-to-ban-greenpeace-gp-
belgium/d13JlGbQlFmQkyAdIkW18Q
still closed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOrVA52c2VI
but can be seen nevertheless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4
and
http://www.blinkx.com/ce/JaQ-
uc8xZcWoOdgpr49fLIowSmFRLXVjOHhaY1dvT2RncHI0OWZMSW93SmFRLXVjOHhaY1dvT2R?id=188104133
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PR Week, October 9th: Lego ends partnership with Shell after Greenpeace pressure campaign
October 09, 2014 by Ian Griggs Lego has capitulated to Greenpeace's pressure campaign not to renew its
controversial partnership with Shell.
http://www.prweek.com/article/1316393/lego-ends-partnership-shell-greenpeace-pressure-campaign
“Greenpeace then attempted to deliver a petition, then totalling just 115,000 signatures, to Lego HQ in
Slough accompanied by campaigners and children dressed as Lego people.
Lego’s response was to lock its doors and issue a statement that the issue was between Greenpeace and
Shell.
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Last month, PRWeek was invited to attend a creative ideas session at Greenpeace HQ in which ideas to
escalate its campaign against Lego were discussed.
In a shock climbdown, Lego issued a statement on Thursday morning to say it would not renew its
partnership with Shell once the current contract ended.
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, chief executive of Lego Group, said: "We want to clarify that as things currently stand
we will not renew the co-promotion contract with Shell when the present contract ends."”
Greenpeace wins war on Lego/Shell tie-up; Reuters Business 5 months ago [5 months before March 30th,
2015]: October 30th, 2014]:
http://www.blinkx.com/ce/xaQh-znZsW2HwHW-
EV_nwXsQeGFRaC16blpzVzJId0hXLUVWX253WHNReGFRaC16blpzVzJId0h?id=1881964885
Lego: new models, new cover (October 31st, 2014)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LEGO-Shell/244031729057837
The Economist: Greenpeace, Lego and Shell: Childish arguments Oct 17th 2014, 14:24 by M.S.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/10/greenpeace-lego-and-shell
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The universe seen by Ptolomaeus
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608043846367839052&pid=15.1&H=113&W=160
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Stakeholders seen à la Ptolomaeus
https://wiki.library.ucsf.edu/download/attachments/204537892/Stakeholder%20web.jpg?version=1&
modificationDate=1317317391000&api=v2
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The universe seen by Copernicus
http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/external/copernicus-tl.jpg
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Stakeholders seen à la Copernicus
http://www.jmir.org/article/viewFile/391/1/2845
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Castells: Network Society
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/aynsawf/rhyzome.gif
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Stakeholder mapping from a network perspective
http://networkingaction.net/wp-content/uploads/images/10-08-03-Map-1-GOLDEN-Biz-Aca-2.3.600.600-
10-07-30-t200.112.jpg
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Appendix: Networks
http://i1.wp.com/www.setelombas.com.br/imagens/Redes.jpg
[Colaboração e felicidade]
Setelombas
Permacultura, Design e Sociedade Humana
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Appendix: Networks
http://www.p3webhost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/social_network.jpg
P3 Web Solutions
WordPress Setup, Customization & Troubleshooting
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Appendix: Castells: Network Society ;-)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pRLCuFwhvCA/SjaEwHjcbPI/AAAAAAAAASg/ndhEkLIydWo/clip_image024_thu
mb%255B1%255D.jpg
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Appendix: The societal level
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/10/greenpeace-lego-and-shell
Greenpeace, Lego and Shell
Childish arguments
Oct 17th 2014, 14:24 by M.S.
A FEW weeks ago I was talking with an advertising professional who had been discussing potential
campaigns with Greenpeace, the environmental group. We both admitted that these days, our reactions to
people scaling buildings and unveiling banners range from apathy to mild annoyance. Those tactics seem to
belong to another era, before the mass institutionalisation of flash-mobs; they lack the hook needed to
achieve virality. Over the past few months, however, Greenpeace has staged a wickedly clever campaign that
feels entirely of this moment: a part-online, part-meatspace twist on memes from "The Lego Movie", aimed
at convincing the Danish toymaker to cut its longstanding promotion deal with Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil
company, in protest against the company's drilling in arctic waters. On October 9th Lego gave in,
announcing it will not renew its deal after the current one runs out.
A whip-smart blueprint for future Greenpeace campaigns in the internet era? Michael Skapinker, of the
Financial Times, thinks not. Many oil companies are heavily involved in renewable-energy projects, he
argues, so these environmental protests are misguided. More to the point, Lego bricks are made of oil-
derived plastic, and there is little the company can do to rectify that original sin. Indeed, we are all sinners:
"In our driving, flying and phone-charging, in the buildings we work in and the homes we heat, we are all
implicated in the use of fossil fuels," he adds.
As societies, we have complicated and possibly inconvenient choices to make about our energy
future. To think we can deal with them by stigmatising the oil majors is childish – an acceptable
quality in young Lego builders, but not in the rest of us.
The key words in Mr Skapinker's piece are "implicated" and "stigmatise", and they tell you everything that is
wrong with the way he is approaching this question. Greenpeace's campaign to push Lego to dissociate itself
from Shell is not a morality contest. It is a political effort by an environmentalist group aimed at getting oil
companies to stop drilling in arctic waters. If Shell comes to fear that drilling in arctic waters will damage its
brand and encourage other well-regarded companies to distance themselves from it, that may help dissuade it
from further drilling. This is perfectly normal, hardheaded politics, directed towards a public-minded goal.
Mr Skapinker may or may not agree with that goal, but there is nothing irrational or "childish" about the way
Greenpeace is pursuing it. Worries about "stigmatisation" belong in discussions of people with HIV, not in
debates over corporations. Oil majors do not have feelings and cannot be morally injured.
Mr Skapinker seems to be arguing that because Lego uses oil, it has no business using its consumer
power to pressure Shell to conduct its oil-producing business in one way or another. This is silly.
Yes, we are all sinners after our own fashion. That does not mean that we should not try to get
others to behave better. Indeed, such pressure has helped inspire oil companies to invest in more
green-minded projects in the first place. The notion that the public should not pressure oil
companies to stop polluting because, as consumers of their products, we are "implicated" in that
pollution seems confused. It is certainly a rather manipulative way of trying to disqualify public
criticism of corporate behaviour altogether.