NEWS //

Spanish Town Wants to Stay Smurf Blue

by Melanie Chamberlain

Smurf Town ©manuelfloresv

It all started out as a publicity stunt. In June, Sony Pictures painted the traditional pueblo blanco, Juzcar, smurf blue. What happened afterwards changed the face of the town forever.

The blue town was part of Sony’s launch campaign for The Smurfs 3D film, but it became so much more to the town. The stunt propelled Juzcar into the international limelight, and tourism to the city skyrocketed. The small town usually welcomed less than 300 visitors in the summer, in 2011 that number blew up to 80,000. And the GDP of the region grew despite the economic recession.

Now, citizens of the village want to keep the city blue–even though Sony promised to return the city to its traditional white. The vote that will decide the future of the smurf town will take place this Saturday.

About the Author

Melanie Chamberlain is a coffee addict, cheap wine connoisseur and a semi-professional "real life" avoider. She blogs about her (mis)adventures traipsing around the world at girlwithgumption.com and overshares via twitter @grlwithgumption.