Why couldn't it have been Baby Bop?
UNICEF breaks out of the box in a big way:
Smurfette is left for dead. Baby Smurf is left crying and orphaned as the Smurf's village is carpet bombed by warplanes — a horrific scene and imagery not normally associated with the lovable blue-skinned cartoon characters.
These are the scenes being shown as part of a new UNICEF ad-campaign on Belgian television....
The Belgian office of the U.N. children's fund said it has decided to use the creations of late Belgian artist Peyo to shock a complacent public into backing its fund-raising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa.
The 20-second video commercial clip now being shown on Belgian TV aims to show that war can happen in the most innocent of places, Henon said....
The appeal is meant to raise money for UNICEF projects in Burundi, Congo and Sudan, Henon said. However, due to its graphic and disturbing scenes, this cartoon is not for everyone. The advertisement is aimed at an adult audience and is only shown after 9 p.m. to avoid upsetting young Smurfs fans.
The video is peacefully introduced by birds, butterflies and happy Smurfs playing and singing their theme song when suddenly out of the sky, bombs rain down onto their forest village, scattering Papa Smurf and the rest as their houses are set ablaze.
The bombs kill Smurfette leaving Baby Smurf orphaned and crying at the edge of a crater in the last scene of the video and finishing of with the text "don't let war destroy the children's world."
It calls on viewers to donate....
Henon added that UNICEF would never cross the line and film real-life war scenes in its appeals.
I'll believe it when I see it. If they think they'll raise more money, they'll televise more war scenes than Al-Jazeera.
In addition, consider that to some people, images of dying Smurfs are more "real-life" than images of people in a far-off country, inasmuch as the viewer thinks he/she has a personal relationship with the Smurfs.
The Globe and Mail identifies the advertising agency involved, and says what they REALLY wanted to do instead:
Publicis, the ad firm that came up with the idea, says it actually wanted to get even more graphic. "We wanted something that was real war - Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -but they said no," said a spokesman.
So now we don't get to find out if Smurfs bleed blue blood.
Adrants links to the spot (within a news report). (I haven't viewed it yet because of computer problems, but it's apparently there.)
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