PressEthic

I never thought I would write a blog on Smurfs, but anything is possible in the blogosphere.

An AP article by Helena Spongenberg reported that UNICEF, the U.N. children’s fund, has released a commercial that shows the destruction of the mushroom village – and all of our favorite Smurf characters – in an effort to “shock” people into donating funds for former child soldiers in Africa.

I could not find a link to the actual commercial, but you can check out a slide show of it (w/ audio) here.

After reading Spongenberg’s article and watching the slide show, I am still in “shock.” Is this ethical?

The commercial does not run before 9 p.m., but I am sure that a lot of children will see it anyway. Obviously our society has been inundated with violent images from movies to video games, but I do not think that blowing up cartoon characters that are specifically tailored for toddlers is good way to garner funds, no matter what the cause.

Another article, written by David Rennie, reported the reactions of Belgians who received a preview of the commercial on the evening news, “The reactions ranged from approval to shock and, in the case of small children who saw the episode by accident, wailing terror.”

I would say that “wailing terror” is not a good thing, but UNICEF seems very happy with the reaction it's getting, citing increased traffic on its website as proof of a successful ad. While it may be successful, I’m not sure if it’s right.

One more quote to ponder, this one from Spongenberg’s article, “Henon added that UNICEF would never cross the line and film real-life war scenes in its appeals.”

That’s nice.