The Smurfs of War.
The UNICEF spokesman points out that the intention of the ads was to shock people, and pictures of actual children suffering don't work nearly as well for that as pictures of suffering Smurfs. That fact is in and of itself pretty disturbing. I just hope nobody applies this same logic to muppets, because I do not need the therapy bills for THAT.
Geeze, looks like Gargomel finally got wise and scored some heavy ordinance on the black market.
And yeah, the image of a naked, screaming, napalm-scorched Miss Piggy running down the road probably would send a few people right over the edge...
Posted by: COMTE at October 11, 2005 03:31 PMwell, wait. they usually use pictures of happy children in their ads, which apparently don't motivate people to donate enough. it's against their policy to use footage of actual war as ad copy. so-- cartoon characters. i think it's preferable to child actors pretending to be in a war, though i can't say why. (possibly because child actors are almost universally horrible.)
the fact that UNICEF has to spend money to make ads to make people support their cause, and that pictures of cartoon characters dying seems effective, more effective than turning on the news, says more about people than about UNICEF. i think.
smurfs for belgians, so muppets for americans is not out of the question. brace yourself.
Posted by: anne at October 11, 2005 11:37 PMNah. American media is all about denial. Not only is the message of this ad ("War is bad") considered treasonous by a fair portion of the population (the portion that writes more angry letters to the networks than any other population segment), but "protecting the children" is basically an unassailable justification for keeping stuff like that off the airwaves.
But yeah, I actually don't blame UNICEF for doing this. I just think it's completely surreal is all.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at October 11, 2005 11:41 PMFunny, you'd think even the knuckle-dragging class would get the notion that preventing war is something that actually does protect children...
Posted by: COMTE at October 12, 2005 09:51 AMStrangely effective on the "I see human beings suffering all the time on TV, so I've become insensitive to it. Smurfs, on the other hand..." level.
Posted by: sonya at October 12, 2005 11:07 AMisn't "Smurf's of War" a really really bad David Gilmore song?
Posted by: sven at October 14, 2005 06:50 PMYou're thinking of Good-bye Blue Smurfs.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at October 15, 2005 06:54 PM