Summary

• Early Smurfs comics depicted harmful behaviors like drinking and smoking, a stark contrast to their family-friendly image today.
• Smurfette's original storyline was problematic, portraying her as a creation of Gargamel for male entertainment.
• The Smurfs have delved into dark themes, including a disturbing UNICEF commercial and a zombie attack episode, offering surprising social commentary.

The dark history of The Smurfs offers some surprisingly bizarre and sinister insights into the children's entertainment icons. The Smurfs, a Belgian comic franchise created in 1958 by the comic artist Pierre Culliford, working under the pen name Peyo, has captivated children and adults since its inception. The long-running franchise includes a comic strip, kids' toys, collectibles, television shows, countless parodies, and three major motion pictures from Sony Entertainment, not to mention the animated feature films from the '60s and '70s. The little blue forest dwellers and their adventures, language, and villains have permeated popular culture.

With such a long history, it's inevitable that there would be some strange stories about the history of the franchise. The Smurfs has never been kids' shows with terrifying horrors, like Adventure Time. It's a simple, low-stakes franchise that generally sees the Smurfs learning something new and going on adventures. However, over the years, The Smurfs has been adjacent to some dark history and featured some bizarrely grim episodes.

10 In Early Comics The Smurfs Partook In Harmful Behaviors

The Smurfs Used To Be More Mature

The earliest The Smurfs comics from frequently had the Smurfs drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking, and while that may not have been as big an issue in the 1960s and '70s in Europe, it's a little odd now to see the tiny woodland critters behaving like rowdy adults. The European comics feature this plot point more often than their American counterparts, though there are a few American comics that see either a Smurf or Gargamel becoming intoxicated, such as "Smurf & Turf" and "The Clockwork Smurf".

The 1981 cartoon Smurfs can be streamed on HBO Max.

9 Smurfette Has A Messy Gender-Stereotyped History

The Only Female Smurf Had A Strange Role In The Series

Smurfette is the only female Smurf in the cast until years later. She was not even a Smurf to begin with and was a creation of Gargamel made to sow discord among the Smurfs with her "feminine wiles". It's not the most modern interpretation of a female character and the fact she's the only woman is even more troubling. At the end of her "villainous" arc, she's magically turned into a real Smurf. There's an unfortunate implication that the only reason Smurfette is allowed into the community is that she accepts her place in the male-dominated society.

8 Gargamel Was Nearly Sent To Hell In The Smurfs

The Smurfs Can Be Evil Too

Gargamel may cause the Smurfs a lot of frustration and worry, but one of their acts of revenge on him went a little too far. In the Smurfs cartoon series, season 2, episode 8, "Heavenly Smurfs", a brush with death and a trick by the Smurfs convince the evil wizard he must change his ways, or he will be sent to hell after he dies.

Gargamel ends up working for the Smurfs as a servant to the point his back is thrown out while the Smurfs laugh and play. It's a harsh fate, even for someone like Garagamel, and the Smurfs' glee at bossing him around feels particularly mean-spirited.

7 The Smurfs Were Part Of A Frightening UNICEF Campaign

Children Were Not Ready For This Unexpected Ad

One night in Belgium in 2005, late-night viewers were treated to an oddly disturbing commercial. What seemed to be a promo for a Smurfs TV spot, with Smurfs dancing around their homes, suddenly erupted in chaos as bombs dropped all over the screaming blue people, leaving destruction and a baby Smurf crying, all alone. The commercial then transitioned to a plea from UNICEF for donations to help the rehabilitation efforts of child soldiers in Burundi and the DRC. It's an important message, but it's a good thing it didn't air during prime kids' viewing hours.

6 Smurf Figurines May Have Contained Lead

Manufactures Have Since Increased Quality And Safety Standards

Smurf figurines are popular toys and collectors' items, but there was once an urban legend that some contained lead paint. The UK was the original maker of Smurf figurines in the 1970s but when demand skyrocketed, they moved operations. However, lower quality standards led to some customers believing the new Hong Kong figures contained lead paint and children were getting sick (via BlueBuddies). True or not, manufacturers had to respond, and they did, with increased quality control standards, indicated by painted dots that are now on every Smurf figurine, with different colors corresponding to different countries.

5 An Episode Of The Smurfs Is A Thinly Veiled STD Lesson

The Smurfs Around An Unknown Disease

Another urban legend concerns a specific episode of the Smurfs 1981 TV show from season 4, "Smurf the Other Cheek". In the episode, Papa Smurf declares that no Smurf should ever kick another Smurf, but Hefty Smurf comes across a woods witch who begs him to kick her in the behind to remove a red dot on her nose. Instead of removing the dot, the kick only gives him a red dot as well.

Eventually, all the Smurfs end up giving each other a dot with a kick in the behind and, intentionally or unintentionally, the episode winds up being a strange analogy to having safe sex and the dangers of STDs. While that may not have been what the showrunners were going for, it's a very specific method of transmission that does lend itself to some particular comparisons.

4 The Smurf Video Game Cost Parents Thousands

Even The Smurfs Couldn't Avoid The Pay-To-Play Industry

In a tale that is far too common, The Smurfs mobile game by Capcom, Smurf Village, ended up costing parents and guardians thousands when their children went on to their s to play the pay-to-win mobile game (via Forbes). The game features purchasable in-game currency called "Smurfberries", which can cost anywhere from $5 to $100. This happened due to a loophole that iTunes does not require s to input a for 15 minutes after using it once, meaning parents ed the game, and children hopped on and started purchasing with no guardrails.

3 The Smurfberry Crunch Cereal Dye Debacle

One Ingredient In The Cereal Left A Lasting Impression

Nearly every children's cartoon of the '90s and early 2000s had a sugary cereal tie-in, and The Smurfs was no different with "Smurf Berry Crunch". However, unlike The Flintstones' Fruity Pebbles, "Smurf Berry Crunch" didn't last long. That's because of an unfortunate side effect of the blue dye in the berries. It turned unsuspecting consumers' fecal matter into a shocking shade of blue (via Mashable). "Smurf Magic Berries" was rereleased with a new formula, but it was too late, and the Smurf cereal craze was over as quickly as the Halloween Whopper one from Burger King.

2 The Smurfs Had One Of The Original Zombie Stories

A Zombie Attack Was The First Introduction Of The Smurfs

Only two George Romero zombie movies were made by the time The Smurfs TV show dabbled in the genre. In a 1981 episode of The Smurfs, "The Purple Smurfs", Lazy Smurf gets bitten by a purple fly which turns him into a purple, mindless Smurf, who only wants to bite other Smurfs and turn them purple as well. It's one of the original TV depictions of a zombie attack.

What's more, the episode is based on the very first Smurfs comic from 1963, "The Black Smurfs," which tells the same story as the TV show, meaning The Smurfs can be considered one of the earliest instances of a zombie attack in any media, considering the original Night of the Living Dead premiered five years later.

1 There Are Alarming Parallels Between The Smurfs And Post-War Europe

Many People Have Pointed Out The Political Allegories In The Smurfs

The Smurfs are an invention of post-World War II Europe, and Peyo likely couldn't help but insert some ideas about the political and cultural landscape into the show. Some have accused The Smurfs of representing Stalinism and Nazism (via The Guardian). There are indeed some similarities. All the Smurfs look and act the same except for some surface-level differences. They eat together in communal areas, they obey the word of one strong man (Papa Smurf), and they refuse to leave their community and rarely welcome anyone into it.

Gargamel could be pointed to as an antisemitic caricature of Nazi and Papa Smurf prefers the color red, much like Stalin's Soviet Union. However, even those who have studied the matter do so somewhat tongue-in-cheek and do not accuse Peyo of intentionally adding these themes. Rather, it just goes to show how a franchise as long-lived as The Smurfs can offer up a wealth of academic insights as well as being an enjoyable series.

The Sony Smurfs trilogy is available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video.