Shell

From Brickipedia, the LEGO Wiki
Shell Oil Company
Shell logo.jpg
Industry:

Oil

Year founded:

1966

Parent:

Royal Dutch Shell

Website:

http://www.shell.com/

Shell (also known as Shell Oil Company), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, is a real world oil company. Until the introduction of the fictional gasoline company Octan in 1992, Shell was the common gasoline brand featured in LEGO sets. LEGO's partnership with Shell has recently been renewed, but LEGO uses Shell as an outlet for promos, rather than using them as inspiration for sets as they used to.

In April 2016, LEGO terminated its relationship with Shell due to a successful campaign by Greenpeace and growing public awareness of global warming.

History[edit | edit source]

Prior to Shell, LEGO released Esso branded sets.

The first Shell sets were released in 1966 and were exclusive to Europe, though the US did begin to receive similar sets with Exxon branding in 1973. Beginning in 1986, Shell sets were also released in the US. With the introduction of the fictional Octan brand in 1992, only a handful of Shell sets were released as promos.

In 2012, Shell released new LEGO promotional sets featuring Ferrari vehicles.

Controversy[edit | edit source]

Starting in July 2014, Greenpeace has openly criticized LEGO's partnership with Shell, since Shell is involved with drilling for oil in the arctic, and launched a campaign to convince people to not boycott LEGO, but rather send emails to the toy maker to reconsider their partnership.[1] Jørgen Vig Knudstorp has responded by asking that Greenpeace does not involve them in their plight.[2] However, his wishes were ignored when Greenpeace released a video of minifigures situated in an arctic environment drowning in oil with a slower version of "Everything is Awesome!!!" in the background. Warner Bros. had the video removed for violating copyright, but it has since reappeared on YouTube.[3] On October 8, 2014, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp released a statement that the LEGO Group would not renew their contract with Shell after it expired, thus ending the 50 year old partnership between LEGO and Shell in April 2016.[4][5]

[edit | edit source]

Gas and Service Stations[edit | edit source]

Shell Trucks[edit | edit source]

Shell wagons[edit | edit source]

Sets Involving Racing Events or Vehicles Sponsored by Shell[edit | edit source]

Shell Buildings[edit | edit source]

Ferrari[edit | edit source]

Videos[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]