KEY FACTS ABOUT THE SMURFS & SMURFS MERCHANDISE:

Smurfs are consistently quoted amongst the best-known characters throughout Europe - and we mean from Oslo to Crete! Basically, people like ‘em. The modern new style has taken off very successfully. All the major product lines are alive and very much kicking. The TV shows, for example, get the highest ratings amongst 3-13 year-olds. The good vibrations that the Smurfs spread mean that parents also like them too. And to top it - as if you didn’t know - the Smurfs are celebrating 40 years of fun and magic this year! So it’s time to catch the blue wave.

Smurfs by numbers - If you have a head for figures, check these out!

• $102 million. That’s how much the Smurf TV series cost (256 x $400,000)

• 16 days of 8 hours would be needed to watch them all - which we have!

• 2,000 pages of comics have been produced.

• 25 languages (lien vers les logos) have invented words for Smurfs, Schtroumpfs...

• More than 20 million comic books have been sold

• More than 40 million cassettes and CDs have been sold (10 million in the last two years)

• More than 700 consumer products are available in Europe

• Over 400 Schleich figurines have been created - a world record!

• 300 million figurines have been sold. 300 million!

• 34 TV stations show Smurfs

• 1 million video games were sold between ‘95 and ‘97

• 500,000 plushes found a home in ‘96

• 750,000 video cassettes were sold in ‘96

• And let’s not forget the millions of kids that tune into the TV shows.