Monday, October 10, 2005

Unicef bombs the Smurfs

The Unicef advert, which shows the Smurfs' village being bombed was shown on the main evening news in Belgium. The reactions ranged from approval to shock and, in the case of small children who saw the episode by accident, wailing terror.

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.


The Ad campaign is intended as the keystone of a fund-raising drive by Unicef's Belgian arm, to raise £70,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.