It’s always heartwarming to come across a bit of special-interest news with LEGO involved, and nothing’s more direct to the point than when it’s an official involvement by The LEGO Group. Their partner in this special endeavor is the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in commemoration of World Children’s Day.
The theme that LEGO and UNICEF touched on for World Children’s Day is the promotion of the right for children all over the world to play. As part of their social media campaign #KidsTakeOver, UNICEF sent four children to LEGO HQ in Billund, Denmark to produce a special LEGO advertisement.
With Brick Fanatics providing video documentation, the children-turned-directors, all aged 10, conferred with LEGO’s creative design team to conceptualize their planned LEGO-UNICEF ad about the importance of play. Their pitch was for a minifigure super-team called Fantasy Force, and after some brainstorming and storyboarding, the ad was put into production.
While the LEGO production team turn the advertising pitch into reality, the “children who took over” were able to indulge in the wonderland environment of LEGO HQ, with its extra-large furniture, tube slides and – of course – LEGO bricks. They also took the time to talk about the importance of play.
Once completed, the LEGO-UNICEF Fantasy Force ad, using stop-motion animation of LEGO sets and minifigures, was shown. It involves the titular Fantasy Force – a woman wearing a cape and using a skateboard, accompanied by a cat, parrot and dog – barging into a home with an oblivious dad and a bored little boy.
The FF admonishes the parent for not giving time for his son to play games and use his imagination. Their moral for the advert’s story is that kids all over the world must remind grownups that “the best way for children to learn and grow is through play.” All in all it was a cute tribute by UNICEF, with LEGO’s help, for World Children’s Day.