Ultra-Orthodox B'nei B'rak Bans Smurfette from New Smurf Movie Ad

The Israeli Billboard

The Israeli Billboard on a Street in B'nai B'rak

The ultra-Orthodox town of B'nei B'rak in Israel has given a new meaning to blue movies.

When it became known that the latest Smurf movie Smurfs: The Lost Village included Smurfette, the blonde girl Smurf, the PR company promoting the film confirmed that it had removed images of Smurfette from promotional material in order to avoid causing offense to the central Israeli town’s residents.

As Sue Surkes wrote under the headline Smurfette too Sexy for ultra-Orthodox City in The Times of Israel,

Bnei Brak, a mostly ultra-Orthodox city, has an ordinance that prevents the hanging of posters of women that “might incite the feelings of the city’s residents.”

Other entertainment icons to have been erased from advertising posters in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem — which also has a large ultra-Orthodox community — include Jennifer Lawrence, star of the Hunger Games, and Tinkerbell, the cartoon character from Peter Pan.

Smurfette, brought to life in the movie with the voice of pop star Demi Lovato, plays a leading role in the new film. Along with Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty, she gets to race through the Forbidden Forest to discover what is said to be the biggest secret in Smurf history. The Hebrew word for Smurfs is Dardasim.

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