The Smurfs (found animated National Benzole commercial series; 1978): Difference between revisions

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Ukanimations1.jpg

1978 magazine showing stills from the commercials.

Status: Partially Found


In 1978, National Benzole launched a promotion in the UK by selling Smurfs merchandise in the UK. To promote The Smurfs, National Benzole created a series of animated commercials which began on May 20th, 1978, that featured Smurfs checking cars with the instrumental version of Dutch singer Vader Abraham's "Smurf Song" (Het Smurfenlied) which came out the previous year to promote the release of "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute" which later gained its first English dub in 1979.

These commercials were notable for having a very different animation style compared to the more well-known Hanna-Barbera series which debuted in 1981. The slogan for The Smurfs promoting the company was the slogan "You Get Service With A Smurf". After the campaign ended, the "Smurf Song" along with the slogan would be reused for Australian commercials for BP in the mid-1980's. The difference between the National Benzole and BP smurfs commercials is that Papa Smurf is checking on the Smurfs taking care of a gas station, cleaning cars, and the store in the Australian ads while National Smurf (a smurf created exclusively for National's commercials) was checking on the cars and is seen driving off.

These commercials resurfaced on the Internet in 2013 when the official YouTube channel for BP uploaded one of the commercials.

Gallery

One of the commercials.