Lesley Pratt was a freakin’ evil advertising genius.
In his quest to sell soap, he’d turned the shock value of bombing smurfs into a marketer’s wet dream.
He’d even coined a term for the new form of advertising: aggressive suasion. (Though they were known as “smurf-cutters” to the Madison Avenue crowd.)
And in the course of doing so, systematically terrorized an entire generations of children.
A smattering of lead-lines shows how ruthless some of his campaigns could be:
- Buy Sugar Smacks (or Barney Gets a Visit from the Vivisectionist, just like Baby Bop)
- Do you want TinkiWinki to die too? Then use Flogg Brand Soap Flakes.
- Only Mommy can save SpongeBob SquarePants from Hanibal Lector — Tell Her to Buy Spangles Spaghetti!
Based on this (real) ad:
Carnival of the Vanities 160
Welcome to this weeks Carnival of the Vanities! I’m privileged to be your host this week, and what a week it’s been. I’ve been reading and writing descriptions for dozens of posts; it’s been no small task like the specialty carnival I ran last mont…
U.S. Declares War on Smurfs, Hundreds Dead in “Shock and Awe” Style Carpet-Bombing Campaign
Most Americans still view the Smurfs as the same cute, harmless little creatures from the television show that ended more than 15 years ago. Nothing could be further from the truth….
Haha – AWESOME!
Smurf the smurf out of those smurfy smurfing smurfs .. !
-It’s about time someone put the godless blue hoard in their place.
I can hardly wait until that smug Elmo gets it.