Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers

[sabao]

Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers
By David Rennie in Brussels

(Filed: 08/10/2005)

The people of Belgium have been left reeling by the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes.
The short but chilling film is the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, and is to be broadcast on national television next week as a campaign advertisement.

The Unicef advert, which shows the Smurfs' village being bombed

The animation was approved by the family of the Smurfs' late creator, "Peyo".
Belgian television viewers were given a preview of the 25-second film earlier this week, when it was shown on the
main evening news. The reactions ranged from approval to shock and, in the case of small children who saw the episode by accident, wailing
terror.

Unicef and the family company, IMPS, which controls all rights to the Smurfs, have stipulated that it is not to be broadcast before the 9pm watershed.

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.
Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."
It is intended as the keystone of a fund-raising drive by Unicef's Belgian arm, to raise

[Xepher]

And for those who think this might be a hoax... http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/10/11/unicef.smurfs.ap/

But of course smurfs aren't communists, they're Democrats. See, they're blue... like the blue states. And when trouble hits, Papa Smurf (the red republican) has to organize the bunch of whiny and wimpy liberals to get them out of their own trouble. Of course they soon forget and go back to galavanting around in fields and holding ands and singing... just like hippie liberals do after the war's over. Only next time they get attacked do they come running for advice to Papa.



If you can't tell by now, this is extreme sarcasam. My point is that you can make anything (especially surreal things) to represent anything you want. As for whether or not the actual ad is a good idea... Well, my problem is that I've seen so many violent Smurf parodies online that I'd probably just laugh. I'd seen this commercial around several places already, and I thought it was a parody until I finally read the article.

[sabao]

Gotta give the guy that made this stuff up points for creativity though.