The Smurfs Australian BP commercial (lost advertising material; 1980s)

1981 photo showing Smurfs merchandise in an Australian BP station.

Status: Lost

Starting in 1979, gas and oil company BP launched a line of figurines and collectibles featuring The Smurfs that could be found in the UK, South Africa, and Australia. In Australia, special animated commercials were created featuring Papa Smurf and other Smurfs.

Sometime in the mid-1980s, an Australian animated commercial was created that featured Papa Smurf checking on a BP station where Smurfs are found cleaning a car, and one Smurf carrying a pile of tires. Like it's British counterpart, it also uses the "Smurf Song" by Vader Abraham (real name "Pierre Kartner"), which is sung by Papa Smurf with the other Smurfs and even reuses the tagline "You Get Service with A Smurf". Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs were also voiced by unknown Australian voice actors instead of the voice actors from the Hannah-Barbara series. Very little is known about the Australian BP commercial, and it has become very obscure as a result.

The Commercial

Unlike the National Benzole ads which mimicked the animation style of the 1976 Belgian animated film "The Smurfs and The Magic Flute" (La Flûte à Six Schtroumpfs, lit. The Flute of Six Smurfs) which gained a UK dub in 1979. The character animation is more fluid and smoother due to being handled by an unknown Australian animation studio instead of Hannah-Barbara. Another difference between the UK commercial is that The Smurfs look more accurate to their designs from the Hannah-Barbara series and the original comics by Peyo.

The commercial begins with Papa Smurf entering a Smurf-sized BP store and singing "What is your plan, simple plan?" to five Smurf workers. Most of the commercial is set inside a Smurf-sized BP store, with Papa Smurf checking how clean the interior is and another Smurf giving Papa Smurf a wrench which he was searching. Papa Smurf is later seen patting another Smurf on the back and saying, "Good lad, good lad." after a Smurf says, "At BP super shop, we really care!". The most notable change is the ending, with a living car singing the last few lyrics "BP's the one place on earth.", who is then joined by Papa Smurf and the other worker Smurfs singing "You Get Service with A Smurf" twice.

Since the ad was only aired in Australia and by a different oil company (BP instead of National). Papa Smurf plays a similar role to "National Smurf" (a Smurf created exclusively for National Benzole commercials). Unlike the British ads, where Papa Smurf is only seen once (as a conductor for a Smurf band during an Olympics themed game). In the BP commercial, Papa Smurf is the main protagonist who is heard singing.

Status

The commercial was uploaded by an unknown Australian YouTube user sometime in 2009 and 2010 who had also uploaded other commercials from Australia during the 1980s. However, it was eventually deleted once that user closed their account in the mid 2010s.

Although the account was closed, an unnamed YouTube Poop used footage from the commercial and lasted a bit longer. The uploader of said YouTube Poop also closed their account years later. As a result, no screenshots and reuploads of the commercial have resurfaced online.

See Also

• Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs (partially found Belgian animated film; 1965)
• La Schtroumpfette (lost Belgian animated TV special based on "The Smurfs" comic; 1969)
• The Smurfs (found animated National Benzole commercial series; 1978)

External Link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs_merchandising