UNICEF Bombs Smurf Village

[Ian]

This is pretty messed up:

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawaciti ... d905da290b

The people of Belgium have been left reeling by a public service commercial featuring the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes.

The 25-second commercial is the work of UNICEF, and is to be broadcast on TV across Belgium next week as a public fundraiser. It is intended as the keystone of a drive, by UNICEF's Belgian arm, to raise about $145,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.

The animation was approved by the family of the Smurfs' late creator, "Peyo."

[Ian]

Here's the video..

http://media.putfile.com/end_of_smurfs

Wow.. wtf is wrong with UNICEF?

[dodecahedron]

pretty effective campaigning IMO.
i've read about this already in local newspapers. someone was quoted as saying that 'regular' pictures/videos of 3rd world countries being bombed etc. don't have an impact anymore on TV viewers.
i agree. we (1st world Western society) have been synthesized (or numbed. take your pick) by so many such things we aren't horrified by it anymore.

to drive the point home - if UNICEF's video had been about a real village that had been bombed and dead bodies - real bodies were sprawled about, how many people would've been upset by it?

the thing is that the "Bomb Smurf Village" was shown at an early enough time-slot that many kids saw it. now that's a big No-No