Published on Friday, July 11, 2014 by Common Dreams
After 3 Millions Views, Greenpeace ‘Save the Arctic Lego Movie’ Pulled from YouTube
The Warner Bros. corporation, the film production company behind the "The Lego Movie" based on the famous toy brand, has forced YouTube to remove an online video created by environmental campaigners at Greenpeace designed to expose the troublesome relationship between the company that makes the popular building blocks and a dangerous push for Arctic drilling by Shell oil.
Greenpeace had taken issue with Lego's 'offshore drilling' themed toy set, created in conjunction with Shell and featuring its logo, and last month—as part of a larger campaign to 'Save the Arctic' from offshore oil and gas drilling—initiated an effort designed to expose and end the relationship.
As part of the campaign, Greenpeace created an animated online video which used the Shell-themed Lego pieces as a set to show a devastating offshore oil spill in the Arctic. According to the group, "The film depicts an Arctic made entirely of LEGO, and imagines an oil spill in this beautiful and pristine part of the world. In real life, big oil company Shell plan to drill in the Arctic, with the very real risk of a huge oil spill that would destroy this unique ecosystem."
After receiving nearly 3 millions hits in less than a week, however, the video was pulled from YouTube sometime on Thursday. According to Greenpeace, it was Warner Bros. specifically that pushed for its removal.
And the note on YouTube page where the video was states: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner Bros. Entertainment."
"The video was removed last night, just before reaching three million hits. We don't know why they complained," Birgitte Lesanner, the campaign manager at Greenpeace Denmark, told the newspaper Politiken.
"It's strange, for satire is generally widely accepted on YouTube. We guess the video just got too popular."
On Friday morning, Greenpeace tweeted:
Our video exposing @Shell's PR deal w/@Lego_group is blocked Watch it here and ACT http://t.co/PJmyj1BpCb #NotAwesome pic.twitter.com/oEgWT1RIxt
— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) July 11, 2014
The video was removed from youtube (see here), but still remains active on Vimeo. Watch:
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