Comments on: UNICEF bombs the Smurfs

UNICEF bombs the Smurfs

huskerdont — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 10:56:37 -0800

UNICEF bombs the Smurfs. UNICEF recently launched a campaign to teach schoolchildren about the horrors of war. Among the efforts are a mini-cartoon, where, yes, the Smurfs are bombed (Warning: Video file, strong images, Smurfs don't kick in for 40 seconds, most of which are dedicated to limbless children. NSFW or small children). I couldn't understand the language the movie is in (Dutch?), but the Smurfs say it all.

By: Acey

Acey — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 10:58:13 -0800

Is the video working?

By: xthlc

xthlc — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:07:25 -0800

The language is dutch, or rather the belgian dialect of Dutch (flemish). Hmm, I was only getting about one frame out of 30 on the video. I seem to recall this being posted before, but the last post didn't have the video.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:22:51 -0800

That's smurfed up.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:30:38 -0800

Well, Bert was first, it was only a matter of time before those Godless blue communists tasted American steel.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:32:48 -0800

i liked the part where they bombed the smurfs but the rest of it really sucked ... poor kids

By: phrontist

phrontist — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:41:17 -0800

I am a flemish speaking belgian, will translate ASAP (need to boot into Windows).

By: etc.

etc. — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:50:14 -0800

I smurfluent in Smurf, will translate As Smurfly As Possible.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:02:05 -0800

Narrator: [talks about war in Burundi] Chorus: Come to smurf-land, welcome everyone! Yes come to smuf-land the land of [indistinguishable due to sound effect]! *bomb whistle* *child crying* Caption: Do not let war destroy the world of children. Narrator: The UNICEF campaign will run through April 1, and seeks to speak to children about the lives of children elsewhere. Woman: Children need to understand that life is not as easy elsewhere as it is here... [something about appreciating what one has]. So much for childhood innocence...

By: NGnerd

NGnerd — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:20:25 -0800

what's sadder, bombed smurfs...or the fact that people are so unfased by bombed people that we have to resort to bombed smurfs...news at 11 thanks for the interpretation by the way

By: fandango_matt

fandango_matt — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:26:49 -0800

The Smurfs have waited 12 years for Gargamel to disarm. The Smurfs will not accept a serious and mounting threat to their country, their friends and their Smurfy allies. Papa Smurf will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Gargamel's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Smurf will present information and intelligence about Gargamel's illegal weapons programs, his attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and his unSmurfy links to terrorist groups.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:28:22 -0800

Good job, phrontist. I'm always going on about making MeFi richer *and* more accessible by providing foreign language materials with translations, and you have outsmurfed yourself. Kudos. Oh, and: poor smurfs. I suppose we have to fight Gargamel *there*, before... etc.

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:31:09 -0800

We had to destroy that Smurf village to save that Smurf village.

By: furiousxgeorge

furiousxgeorge — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:36:05 -0800

Well, they had to free all the female smurfs from wearing burkas...too bad they got Smurfette. This seems to be the genocide of the smurf race.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:38:08 -0800

I think the ad gets the point across though... it's showing kids how screwed up the world is in a way they will understand. It seems like the ad is aimed at parents as much as children though, "Hey look, you can't hide your kids from this forever, you should engage them on these images they are being bombarded with" is the less-than-subtle subtext here. The real question is why Belgium (other than it being home to some of the brightest and most wonderful people to grace the earth ;-))? Wouldn't it make more sense for UNICEF to run this here?

By: ulotrichous

ulotrichous — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:47:28 -0800

That is totally smurfed up.

By: ulotrichous

ulotrichous — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 12:49:18 -0800

d'oh

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:50:10 -0800

The horror. The horror.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:55:46 -0800

Good riddance to the smurfs, I say. They were a commercialized cultural pestilence, an insidious marketing strategy. I remember seeing my first smurf - I thought it was kind of cute, I suppose. Soon they were everywhere.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:10:54 -0800

Smurf blue is #006699. Coincidence? I think not.

By: slightlybewildered

slightlybewildered — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:11:08 -0800

I'm not sure that it is aimed at schoolchildren, rather those of us who were schoolchildren in the SmurfEra. (oh, and are also Belgian) This Telegraph article (via BoingBoing) calls it "the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs", and it is not to be shown on television before the 9pm Adults Only watershed. "Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers."

By: elgilito

elgilito — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:31:40 -0800

Phrontist: The real question is why Belgium [...]? Wouldn't it make more sense for UNICEF to run this here? In Belgium and France, the Schtroumpfs have been around since 1958 (vs 1981 for the US version) so the demographics of smurfisation are much older there: people in their 40s can relate strongly to the ad because they loved the characters when they were kids. To produce a similar impact, a US version would need US-born comic book characters of the late 50s - I don't know which ones though (not being familiar with US comics).

By: PenguinBukkake

PenguinBukkake — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:32:37 -0800

*shakes fist at Gargamel* "the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs" no, the second. you clearly missed the Bukkake Smurfette episode

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:56:46 -0800

Warning: Shittiest video codec ever made by mankind.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 15:33:57 -0800

But Gargamel has weapons of mass destruction *shows vial of Liquid Mass Destruction* So it's a clear and present danger. Gargamel being a tyrannical leader oppressing the little smurfs, it's our duty to save Smurfland Let me close my speech with this 2 thousand years old lating saying * Dulce et decorum est pro Smurflandia mori * * Smurflandia delenda est *

By: skallas

skallas — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 16:21:34 -0800

>The real question is why Belgium Brussels is the HQ of the EU. Belgium lawmakers were (or are still) trying to find a way to try crimimals for humanitarian crimes not done in Belgium, recently with Ariel Sharon, which failed back in 2002.

By: Item

Item — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 19:08:54 -0800

Warning: Shittiest video codec ever made by mankind. This side of Real, that is.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 20:08:55 -0800

yup--Brussels is the seat of the EU, and it's where there's a large mainstream audience for comics/graphic novels. If it was for here, it'd be Springfield and The Simpsons getting bombed or something. Very powerful commercial. UNICEF has really inserted themselves back into public discourse, which is great (it reminds me of when i was young). Nickelodeon is pushing "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" heavily.

By: easternblot

easternblot — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 21:38:57 -0800

why Belgium? Because the Smurfs are FROM Belgium!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 22:19:56 -0800

why Belgium Franco-Belgium comic tradition. BTW when in Belgium, they are called "Brussels waffles". Not sure what to order in Amsterdamn (probably "pancake").

By: quiet

quiet — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:06:01 -0800

Smurfette + SNL (NSFW)

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 03:35:04 -0800

I'm waiting to see Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse infibulated.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 04:13:12 -0800

Fantastic ad, I say.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:00:56 -0800

BTW when in Belgium, they are called "Brussels waffles". Not sure what to order in Amsterdamn (probably "pancake"). Oddly enough, "Luikse Wafels" (waffles from Liege, another town in Belgium)!

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:16:36 -0800

*shakes fist at Gargamel* Doubtful. He needs them alive to turn them into gold. More likely retaliation by the Monchhichi over favorable right-of-way trade routes granted to the Smurfs through Snork territory.

By: basilwhite

basilwhite — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 08:03:59 -0800

Bush Addresses the Nation to Defend Firebombing of Smurfs