r/BricksAndMinifigs

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I think most of us are following this PR disaster but wanted to update everyone about the Gofund me; just pulled.

Watch for Ben's space, I suspect another one will be up in the coming days, weeks.

Support small business that don't steal from old people.

This week I’m reacting to Reckless Ben’s viral LEGO investigation and the surprising Mormon and Utah connections behind the story. What starts as a dispute over one family’s allegedly stolen $200,000 LEGO collection turns into a much bigger conversation about franchises, Utah business culture, and the blurry line between Mormon culture and Mormon institutions. Come for the LEGO drama, stay for the Mormon connection.

I'm quite confused. I'm not entirely embedded in streamer culture but I do watch a few of then, and they've been a vocal part of this discussion.

I'm blown away with how many of them are slurping up Ben's content for their own selfish cash flow, which they get regardless, and using every opportunity to dog in him.

Sure they'll sugar-coat it "don't get me wrong, he's right, I'm just saying" - to then follow it up with hours of criticism. Criticism he directly addresses. He never claimed to be a tutor, legal expert or paragon of nobility. He's a slackening dude bro who's making content.

I'm honestly so lost on the perspective, am I lost in the sauce or does anyone else see this?

I just waited 30 minutes to talk to a customer service rep - just to let them know how shocking it is that they have not stepped in to rectify this situation. From my perspective, BAM is causing the LEGO brand irreparable reputational harm, and there are likely things they can do as a company to help resolve this matter.

There is a CONTACT US page on the Lego site, with a phone number and long hours of availability. If enough people call them, perhaps that will help move the needle. I could not imagine taking a financial and reputational hit from lowlives like this.

Obviously LEGO reps can't talk about what they are hearing, but from what I gather they have heard from several people on this so far.

BAM has officially hired a crisis management team to handle this PR disaster. The purpose of these companies is to influence online discourse, and they're really fucking good at what they do.

It'll start subtly. You'll see users undermining Ben's authority, arguing that he should have just gotten a lawyer (as if they're privy to things Ben is doing behind the scenes). I believe we're already at this stage. Then you'll see people openly undermine Ben's credibility, which is also already happening (see Scott Schafer's hit pieces on Ben). Once those seeds are planted, you'll see those marketing people being more brazen and openly supporting BAM in comment sections. They'll utilize bots for this. They'll utilize downvoting to suppress posts like this one.

I cannot be more clear: these people are professionals. Making you question things is what they do for a living. You might think that you're resilient to propaganda, you might think you can tell if someone's a bot, but the point of propaganda is often not to convince, but to simply demoralize, and then to humiliate the other side.

And this is why you'll have to push back against these industry plants with extreme prejudice. If you see people attacking Ben for dishonest reasons, push back against it. No honest person would question how Ben is handling those things when the other side is so blatantly corrupt and wrong. The point is that we don't know what Ben is doing behind the scenes, so if someone is making assumptions, they have an ulterior motive.

The point is first to undermine, then to question, and then finally to completely dismantle Ben's narrative. It'll start by muddying the waters and by poisoning the well. BAM thinks you're dumb, they think you're cattle and that you're easily-swayed. They think you have a short attention span and that you'll just forget about this if they silence everyone involved.

Don't let them.

Boycotting is the way.

The only way to get back at B&M for their tomfuckery is to hit them where it hurts the most: their wallet.

Yes, 99% of the franchisee's are innocent bystanders and did not deserve ANY of this. However for every 10$ spent at their location is a 1$ sent to Ammons pocket and will be used to cover up their crimes.

If an effective mass boycott does take place, it is going to absolutely hurt the franchisee's in the *short* term.

HOWEVER: if enough stores see a significant downturn they could potentially have enough ammo to go after corporate with a class action on the grounds of tarnished brand reputation and failure to protect brand image with proper conduct. Corporates actions have an impact on their franchisees and they need to learn not to bite the hand that feeds.

Franchisee's have contracts and cannot just simply opt out without it getting very costly, or very costly *and* litigious which is why that's simply not a feasible option and a dumb suggestion. However with enough public and economic pressure they may have no choice but to band together and take the pitchforks to corporate. This mess is THEIR fault. Not Bryan's. Not Ben's. Ammons. This may be the only way out for the majority of franchisees and when they win they may be able to get off without any restrictive "non-compete" clauses or any other legal shenanigans and simply run the store under their own name. (NAL and only speculating, if anyone has more knowledge and insight in this area, please chime in)

So how can we help?

**DO:**

-Boycott

-tell friends and fam to boycott

-picketing

-leafletting

-spam the lore on any public social media post by B&M

-share Ben's videos any chance you get

**DON'T:**

-harass franchisees

-call franchisees

-review bomb franchisees

-fight people in a franchisee location

-even go inside a B&M

-be an obnoxious douchebag in general

Remember any actions you take can negatively impact Ben's legal proceedings. Whatever you do, just make sure you are being civil and legal.

You're not Reckless Ben

You're not Nathan Fielder

Let the "professionals" handle the antics.

Together apes strong.

BRICK BY BRICK!