Don Rumsfeld Bombs Smurf Capital

Today's online Corriere della Sera* reports!

UNICEF-Belgium has launched a series of televised infomercials on the plight of children in wartorn countries to be aired just before the evening news, traumatizing every Belgian child under 8. To make the point, the Smurfs come under missile attack in the wee hours of the morning suggesting March 20, 2003. Belgian kids got to see the Smurfs subjected to something far worse than any of Gargamel's evil schemes--lifeless Smurfs, Smurftown reduced to rubble and a wailing orphan Smurf Baby.

Meanwhile, account manager Julie Lamoureux at ad agency Publicis, said that the sight of Smurfs subjected to war should have included mutilation and decapitation of Smurf characters, for a realistic glimpse into the horror and mayhem of war: We wanted something that was real war -- Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -- but they said no.

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*Article also appears in the online Ottawa Citizen.