Okay, so I’m sick today, and so it’s entirely possible that this story about the Smurfs getting bombed by warplanes in a TV ad is entirely the product of my twisted and delirious mind.

UNICEF’s first adult-only episode of “The Smurfs,” in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters’ village is annihilated by warplanes, has terrified young children… The reactions ranged from approval to shock and, in the case of small children who saw the episode by accident, wailing terror.

I’m sure people with actual children will find this far less hilarious than I did.

It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand in hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom-shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

The Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

Obviously, the next question is ‘Can the Snorks be next?’ The article goes on to discuss how traditional war image ads have lost their power (probably from being oversaturated in our conscienceness by UNICEF), and as a result, they had to destroy Smurf Village in order to save Smurf Village.

I do have to give credit to the people who owned the rights to the Smurfs, who gave their blessing to the project. It’s hard to imagine, say, J.K.Rawlings giving the okay to gank young Mr. Potter in an ad for land mine control. Still, apparently there were limitations to the extent of the smurf mutilation.

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.”

Apparently, there are all these limitations on ’shamelessly scarring young children for life in a desperate bid for relevancy’. Ah, well. If anyone finds a link to the actual ad, I’d love to see it.

Edit: Scott was kind enough to IM me a link to the movie.