Lego and the Daily Mail are done playing together. The Danish toy maker announced on Saturday, November 12, that it will no longer run giveaways with the controversial British tabloid at the urging of consumers and anti-hate advocacy groups.
Bob Jones, the father of a 6-year-old, took to the Lego Facebook to express his concerns about the toy company’s ties to the controversial paper on November 4. “Lately their headlines have gone beyond offering a right wing opinion. Headlines that do nothing but create distrust of foreigners, blame immigrants for everything, and as of yesterday are now having a go at top judges in the U.K. for being gay while making a legal judgment,” the London-based dad wrote in a lengthy post. “It genuinely bothers me, that a great progressive company like yours supports this ‘news’ paper, helping increase its circulation.” He signed off with the hashtag #stopfundinghate.
Jones’ impassioned plea received 24,000 likes and more than 13,000 shares. Eight days later, the company responded to Jones’ post, writing, “Our agreement with the The Daily Mail has finished and we have no plans to run any promotional activity with the newspaper in the foreseeable future.”
Lego spokeswoman Kathrine Bisgaard Vase tells Us Weekly that their customers’ voices matter. “We spend a lot of time listening to what children have to say,” Vase says. “And when parents and grandparents take the time to let us know how they feel, we always listen just as carefully.”
The Stop Funding Hate campaign — referenced in Jones’ Facebook post — takes issue with papers such as the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Express. “Printing front pages that demonize and dehumanize people is an effective way for [these papers] to boost their readership and thereby their advertising revenue,” Richard Wilson, a Stop Funding Hate founder told CNN. “Our campaign aims to shift the balance of incentives so that printing hateful headlines begins to cost more in lost advertising than it makes in sales.”
A spokesperson for the Daily Mail tells Us: “Our agreement with Lego has finished and we have no plans around any promotional activity with Lego in the foreseeable future.”
