The UN Teams with The Smurfs for The International Day of Happiness
The United Nations Foundation is teaming up with the Smurfs for a smurftastic program called “Small Smurfs Big Goals” to help promote The International Day of Happiness which takes place March 20.
The day of celebration began in 2013 as a “way to recognize the importance of happiness in the lives of human beings around the world. The day is also a good opportunity to highlight the Sustainable Development Goals, a global plan of action that, if achieved, will lead to the well-being of all people. These 17 interlinked goals, adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations, protect our people and our planet so that everyone, no matter where they live, can live their happiest lives.”
The Smurfs will help promote the plan to protect all people and the environment through the 17 goals listed below:
- No Poverty – End poverty in all its forms everywhere
- Zero Hunger – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Good Health and Well-Being – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Quality Education – Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
- Gender Equality – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Clean Water and Sanitation – Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Affordable and Clean Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Decent Work and Economic Growth – Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
- Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
- Reduced Inequalities – Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Sustainable Cities and Communities – Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Responsible Consumption and Production – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Climate Action – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Life Below Water – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- Life on Land – Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
- Partnership for the Goals – Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
The Smurfs is a Belgian comic franchise created in 1958 by the writer/artist Peyo.
This is the second comic book characters the United Nations has teamed up with in the last year to help promote a program of theirs. In October 2016 the United Nations designated Wonder Woman as an Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls. In March 2016, Red from Angry Birds was appointed Honorary Ambassador for Green for last year’s International Day of Happiness. The United Nations was criticized for the Wonder Woman appointment, but nary a mention from individuals about Red or the Smurfs…
You can click to watch the advertisement being run now to promote the team-up below.
For our first Euro Thursday, I’ve debated for a few weeks as to exactly what I’d like to do. I was thinking I’d keep it simple and just do a review or two… but why make things simple? Thinking through the long term I came to a realization that other than receiving review copies from publishers like Titan Comics or Humanoids (and a few others) I really have no idea about European comics, so I should probably learn to better inform me going forward.
