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October 13, 2005
No, Not the Smurfs!
Seeing that cuddly blue cartoon characters might elicit more sympathy that cuddly black babies, UNICEF just launched a new ad campaign, which apparently got strong reactions in Belgium where it was debuted recently:
The reasoning is pretty straightforward. Of course, they had to tone it down because one cannot show smurfs mutilated, as that would invoke too strong reactions:
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. "It's controversial," he said. "We have never done something like this before but we've learned over the years that the reaction to the more normal type of campaign is very limited."Belgium prides itself on being the home of some of the world's most famous cartoon characters - from Tintin to Lucky Luke and the Smurfs, known to the Dutch- speaking half of the country as "Smurfen" and as "Schtroumpfs" to Belgium's French speakers.
The advertising agency behind the campaign, Publicis, decided the best way to convey the impact of war on children was to tap into the earliest, happiest memories of Belgian television viewers. They chose the Smurfs, who first appeared in a Belgian comic in 1958.
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."
You can see the video in Flemish at this site -- click on Video. The very upsetting smurf video is preceeded by the kind of images that do not move the world anymore: injured and mutilated black children. (You can also see it what seems to be a better connection here, Flemish original dubbed over in French.)
I must say, I think it's a very good idea.
It's just very, very sad that this is what it takes.
P.S. It turns out they only show it after 9 pm to not upset children. I'd say children should see this. Maybe not when they are three, but certainly by the time they are old enough to learn about the world.
Of course, unlike adults, they might not need this proxy, this circumlocution, to reach their hearts. They probably could still be moved by the real images of real children and not need cartoons.
Yeah, they'd be upset. Being upset is the appropriate reaction.
<Link> 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....
UNICEF traditionally uses real life images of playing and laughing children but decided to change it for something that would shock people, Henon said.
“We wanted to have lasting effect of our campaign, because we felt that in comparison to previous campaigns, the public is not easily motivated to do things for humanitarian causes and certainly not when it involved Africa or children in war,” he said.
Henon added that UNICEF would never cross the line and film real-life war scenes in its appeals.
Frankly, I'm for showing it all. Maybe not around the clock, but often enough so that we cannot forget or ignore the reality. It's certainly happenning to the people who have no choice and no escape, why should we be allowed to escape even the slightest exposure to their reality?
Posted by zeynep at October 13, 2005 12:22 PM
Comments
I notice the caption on the posters reads "don't let war destroy the world of children." The world of adults? Eh...
Posted by: rootlesscosmo at October 13, 2005 03:12 PM
The French overdubbed version's link is broken (you chopped off a preceding "h").
Posted by: Pyrrho at October 13, 2005 07:23 PM
oops, corrected. thanks.
Posted by: Zeynep at October 13, 2005 07:51 PM