What Moonage Daydream calls “the dumbest idea the UN has ever conceived. Traumatizing kids so that they won’t be traumatized by something else.” Moon quotes the Sunday Mail:

CHILDREN’S favourite Smurfs are wiped out in a gruesome bloodbath in a new episode of the cartoon made for the United Nations.

Stunned adults and weeping children watched a preview in disbelief as Papa Smurf and Smurfette were blown to bits when bombs rained down on their village.

Only baby Smurf survives the carnage, far worse than anything dished out by their usual enemy Gargamel.

The chilling film, produced by the UN children’s organisation Unicef Belgium, warns, ‘Don’t let war affect the lives of children’.

Here’s more this time from the Washington Times:

Julie Lamoureux, account director at Publicis for the campaign, said the agency’s original plans were toned down. “We wanted something that was real war — Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head, but they said no.”

This is the scene moments after the bombing:

We’re not sure if this is the dumbest thing the UN has done or if the Afghanistan board game was. Either way, if the U.S. criticizes it enough it’s sure to get a Nobel Prize next year.

For the record, the response of small children who inadvertently saw the PSA…wailing terror.

Here is a link to a site that has a Windows Media slideshow from what looks like Belgian TV.

Others blogging about this: 30 x 35 (thx for the WT tip), Deliberate Pixel, My Monkey Mind, Smurf’s News, World Changing

special thx Rocky P.

Update–The best comments that I saw on the sites linked above (can you find mine?):

It’s about time someone killed the Smurfs.
They are probably terrorists and had it coming to them anyway.
They should do an anti-war crimes video with the care bears. The Care Bears go to Abu Gharib. Have them cloaked in black hoods…
Seems to me kids should be scared of a land filled with several little blue men and one blue woman living in mushrooms.
LALA…LALALALA…LALA..LA.LA.LA….LALA…LALALAa AAAARRRRRgggggghhhhhhhh
That’s like using Santa Claus in a pedophile awareness campaign?
If only someone would bomb the power rangers……………..
Gravatar Smurf Village had WMDs in the north and the south and the east. We know theyre there.
The Smurfs are liberals and Democrats. Go bombers.
Death to America. Mullah Smurf
This may help raise awarness. Children are the main cause of war and they saw the consicquences of their action.
Great, now their going to create more intifada Smurfs
“If you choke a smurf, what color do they turn?” Steven Write
Wouldn’t the message be more powerful if they picked cartoon people that everyone didn’t despise?
Oh now I get it, war is bad.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 9:08 pm by Insider and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.