--- title: Female Smurf Removed from Billboard in Bnei Brak, Israel description: In an ultra-religious Israeli city, the Smurfs' film PR company decided to cut Smurfette from film promotions. canonical: https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/ author: Kate Dwyer article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-29T15:43:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:17.989Z og:title: An Israeli PR Company Removed Smurfette From Film Promotion og:description: Bnei Brak has an ordinance against images that 'might incite the feelings of the city's residents' og:url: https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e3a71ee8e26038f/6988697e3c16391a7545a5d0/the-smurfs-still-e1490800780235.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2092 og:image:height: 1177 og:image:alt: the-smurfs-still og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An Israeli PR Company Removed Smurfette From Film Promotion twitter:description: Bnei Brak has an ordinance against images that 'might incite the feelings of the city's residents' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e3a71ee8e26038f/6988697e3c16391a7545a5d0/the-smurfs-still-e1490800780235.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An Israeli PR Company Removed Smurfette From Film Promotion > Sponsored content. 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Sony Pictures by [Kate Dwyer](https://time.com/author/kate-dwyer/) ## Kate Dwyer Mar 29, 2017 3:43 PM UTC Smurfette, a key character in the _Smurfs_ franchise, was cut out of a promotional billboard in conservative Israeli community Bnei Brak. According to the [_Times of Israel_](http://www.timesofisrael.com/smurfette-too-much-woman-for-ultra-orthodox-city/), the city has an ordinance that prevents the publication of images that “might incite the feelings of the city’s residents.” The original poster for _Smurfs: The Lost Village_ shows Smurfette alongside male Smurfs Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty, but in Bnei Brak, only the boys appear. The film’s distributor, Forum Film, told Israeli newspaper [_Haaretz_](http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.779813) that the PR company Mirka’im – Hutzot Zahav decided to cut Smurfette so the city’s Orthodox population — in which men are not permitted to look upon images of women — would not get offended. Smurfette is the latest female character to be nixed from billboards in the community. Jennifer Lawrence did not appear on the _Hunger Games_ posters and [Tinkerbell was axed](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/smurfette-ultra-orthodox-haredi-censorship-israel-bnei-brak-smurfs-a7654546.html) from _Peter Pan_ promotions back in the day. (Images of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton [were not published](http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/03/28/smurfette-removed-from-movie-posters-in-ultra-orthodox-city-in-israel.html) during the U.S. presidential election last fall.) [_Variety_](http://variety.com/2017/film/news/female-smurf-erased-billboard-smurf-film-israel-1202017685/) notes that Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s film _Wonder Woman_ will be released this summer, and based on the _Smurfs_ censorship, it’s unlikely Gadot will appear on the film’s promotions in the more religious areas of her home country. \[H/T [_Variety_](http://variety.com/2017/film/news/female-smurf-erased-billboard-smurf-film-israel-1202017685/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/"},"headline":"An Israeli PR Company Removed Smurfette From Film Promotion","datePublished":"2017-03-29T15:43:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:17.989Z","description":"Bnei Brak has an ordinance against images that 'might incite the feelings of the city's residents'","url":"https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/","keywords":["motto","Israel","Censorship"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e3a71ee8e26038f/6988697e3c16391a7545a5d0/the-smurfs-still-e1490800780235.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Dwyer","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kate-dwyer/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e3a71ee8e26038f/6988697e3c16391a7545a5d0/the-smurfs-still-e1490800780235.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"the-smurfs-still","caption":"Neil Patrick Harris as \"Patrick\" with Clumsy, Briany, Smurfette, Gutsy and Papa Smurf in Columbia Pictures' THE SMURFS.","creditText":"Sony Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4716605/female-smurf-removed-billboard-bnei-brak-israel/","name":"An Israeli PR Company Removed Smurfette From Film Promotion"}}]}] ```