Adult Only Smurfs
UNICEF ad drops bomb on Smurfs
BRUSSELS -- UNICEF's first adult-only episode of "The Smurfs," in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes, has terrified young children.
The short but chilling film is to be broadcast on national television this week as a campaign advertisement for a fundraising drive by the U.N. children's agency.
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 last week, when it was shown on the 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 9 p.m., when it is hoped that children will be in bed.
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.
The 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 part of a fundraising drive by UNICEF's Belgian arm to raise more than $100,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.
Short Clip: End of Smurfs
BRUSSELS -- UNICEF's first adult-only episode of "The Smurfs," in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes, has terrified young children.
The short but chilling film is to be broadcast on national television this week as a campaign advertisement for a fundraising drive by the U.N. children's agency.
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 last week, when it was shown on the 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 9 p.m., when it is hoped that children will be in bed.
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.
The 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 part of a fundraising drive by UNICEF's Belgian arm to raise more than $100,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.
Short Clip: End of Smurfs
