Lego has announced that it pulled the marketing campaign for a variety of toy sets including ones with police and the White House amid protests following George Floyd’s death.
The Danish toy maker instructed its advertising group, Rakuten Linkshare, to remove the product listings for the toy sets “Burger Bar Fire Rescue,” “Police Helicopter Chase,” “Police Monster Truck Heist,” and the $100 White House set “ASAP” in “light of recent events,” per a company email in a piece by the New York Post published Thursday. (RELATED: Pearl Jam Postpones North American Tour Over Growing Coronavirus Concerns)
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 3, 2020
In an email to Toy Book, who first reported the company’s decision to pull the advertising for the sets, Lego shared the request was part of a “decision to respect #BlackOutTuesday and pause posting content on our social media channels in response to the tragic events in the US.”(RELATED: Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct On Fire After Officers Evacuate Building Amid George Floyd Riots)
On Wednesday, the company tweeted about its pledge to donate $4 million to “organizations dedicated to supporting black children and educating all children about racial equality.”
“We stand with the black community against racism and inequality,” the tweet read. “There is much to do.”
On Thursday the company responded to claims the toy sets had been “removed” and made it clear it wasn’t the toys just the “digital advertising.”
“We’ve seen incorrect reports saying we’ve removed some LEGO sets from sale,” the company tweeted. “To be clear, that is not the case and reports otherwise are false. Our intention was to temporarily pause digital advertising in response to events in the US. We hope this clears things up.”
We’ve seen incorrect reports saying we’ve removed some LEGO sets from sale. To be clear, that is not the case and reports otherwise are false. Our intention was to temporarily pause digital advertising in response to events in the US. We hope this clears things up.
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) June 4, 2020
It all comes following protests and riots across the country in response to Floyd’s death, a man who died while in custody of a Minneapolis police officer.