The PR company promoting the newest "Smurfs" movie cropped out the character of Smurfette from billboards in three ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak.
The Mirka’im-Hutzot Zahav company says it removed the images to avoid offending the city’s ultra-Orthodox communities, in which the men are forbidden to look upon images of women, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The original posters feature Smurfette with other "Smurfs" characters Brainy, Clumsy, and Hefty, and elsewhere in Israel, the billboards are unaltered, according to Variety.
The new "Smurfs" film called “Smurfs: The Lost Village,” features a town full of females, much to the delight of the original village, which is all male except for Smurfette.
Although it is technically forbidden, some in the ultra-Orthodox communities do attend movies or screen them in the privacy of their homes, and some residents of Bnei Brak are not as religious as others, Variety reported.
Previous billboards and other media coverage, such as that of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, were previously censored in the community, according to Cinema Blend.
Hunger Games posters removed Katniss Everdeen and replaced her with a golden crown, and an Ikea catalog was released with only men and boys within the kitchen and bathroom display ads.
Twitter users found it hard to understand a tradition so different from their own.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.