There has even been debate about whether the artist intended the Smurfs to be a metaphor for socialism, but there is room for anyone with a political ideology that emphasises co-operation and community to interpret them through their own prism.
The Smurfs lived without money, using their individual skills for the common good, without individual reward, to ensure their community thrives.
You can even see echoes of the British government’s Big Society idea, part of which encourages individuals to form community groups and engage in social action, particularly through volunteering, says Prof Ellis Cashmore, a sociologist from Staffordshire University.
“There are similarities between David Cameron’s idea of the Big Society and what we see embodied in Smurf society.
“Cameron [is asking people to get] organised with their local community, have organic collectivity and work for each other, like we used to before industrialisation came along and fragmented society.”
Smurfs have done overt politics more recently – in 2005, a Unicef advertisement featuring Smurfs was aired in Belgium, in which their village is bombed by aircraft, to raise funds for African children.
The Smurf empire is moving onto new platforms, taking advantage of the social gaming trend. A Smurf smartphone game targeted at women aged between 18 and 34 has had 12 million downloads so far.
Female gamers seem undeterred by the dearth of female Smurfs.
