[André]

Thanks Steve!

For me that sounds very correct. As far as I know National Benzole was a part of BP then and in UK they slowly changed the National stations to BP during the 80s. But I believe only National sold smurfs between 1978 and 1980 in the UK. It is only the boxes made early among the UK boxes which has National written on the boxes.

I think except from the early ones sold in Holland, BP then had them sold in South Africa, until around 1980??? Then in Australia and New Zealand between 1979 and 1981. I don´t think BP still had the trademark-rights for the word smurf in Australia in 1982. So therefore this playset was sold just before they stopped with the BP-smurf-promotion and that also explains why it is among the rarest Schleich box and playset you can find.

So if I would guess this BP playset could only have been sold in Australia and maybe New Zealand.

Steve, when National stopped selling smurfs in 1980 where could you buy them after that?? In the toystores??

Another thing. The rugby-smurfs sold in UK. How were they marked when sold in bags?? I know the ones sold in South Africa had the BP logo on them.

[steveparkes]

Hey Andre,

That sounds about right to me. I know when National stopped selling them in the UK (early 80s?) there were no other shops that I know of that sold them, not in the high street anyway.

I remember this was before the birth of the Internet and I just assumed that Schleich had stopped making smurfs. Imagine my joy to find that there were a whole load of new smurfs I had to get once I discovered the Internet

As far as I remember Andre, the rugby smurfs were loose, no bag. I am pretty sure that is correct, I don't remember any smurfs in bags over in the UK, only supers in boxes.

funny, of all the things I had as a kid in the 70s the only thing I haven't been able to find and replace are little bands that went round your boiled eggs. They were transparent and had smurfs on them holding hands dancing and they went all the way around your egg

[Tintin]

Hi

I can't remember the smurfs in package ( in Holland ) to.
What i remember is only loose ones, but maybe the gas stations already took them out of the package

Tintin

[André]

Maybe only the ones in packages( bags) were sold in South Africa???

I don´t think any packages were used in Australia either. Only the BP playset, but that is just the same with the National petrolpump playset, sold in box in UK.

But there are also playsets marked with BP australia, like the garden playset. But then anly in smaller writing like when adding the National articlenumber on the garden playset in UK.

[Smurfysmurf]

Maybe only the ones in packages( bags) were sold in South Africa???

That's what I am thinking which is interesting because it would mean that the gardener, a lot of us were able to buy from Paolo in the BP bag, was originally sold in South Australia

Do we know if there were other smurfs sold like that? So far I know of the Rugby smurfs and the gardener

[Lia]

There seem to be 11 different known smurfs in the BP bag

Lia

[Smurfysmurf]

Which ones?

[André]

Actually I assume that all smurfs sold in South Africa could have been sold in bags. I don´t see a reason that only a few of them were sold like that.

Most likely BP sold all the smurfs this way in their stations in South Africa??

[Smurfysmurf]

so those would not be promos but more like the Wallace Berrie Co smurfs on cards?

[André]

I would not call them promos. They were just sold this way in South Africa I assume??

As you say W Berrie had the license for the smurfs in US and then sometimes sold them on cards with their name on the card. I would say it could have been the same in South Africa when BP had the license for the smurfs there. I don´t see why the gardener is a promo just because sold in a BP bag??? But maybe I am missing something???

[Smurfysmurf]

I would not call them promos. They were just sold this way in South Africa I assume??

As you say W Berrie had the license for the smurfs in US and then sometimes sold them on cards with their name on the card. I would say it could have been the same in South Africa when BP had the license for the smurfs there. I don´t see why the gardener is a promo just because sold in a BP bag??? But maybe I am missing something???

Thanks, Andre I do agree with you now but it took some rethinking on my part. Back when I bought it like this, most of us on here didn't know about the part BP played..and since it had the BP emblem on it, we considered it a promo like the classic tankwart BP promo. I don't think any of us considered that BP was the distributor of smurfs in some countries much like WB was in the US and National Garage was in England.

Just a misconception that has now been cleared

[Tintin]

Hi Andre

Sorry but you didn't convinsed me.
I still consider them as promo because í don't know if these were sold or given away like this.
And i don't know if BP distributed them like W. Berrie ............
But that's just my opinion

Tintin

[André]

OK Frank,

but as you see on this item, BP had the rights for the word smurf in Australia.

And I am pretty sure it was the same thing in South Africa.

So BP was only the company selling them.

Eventhough I agree they look awesome in the bags, they are no more promos then the ones sold on the BP sheves in Holland!

That is off course just my opinion.

For example the gardener has nothing to do with BP, except it was sold by BP and it was probably sold in UK by National, in US by W Berrie and in Australia by BP also, with the exception of the bag.

[Tintin]

Hi Andre

Maybe you are right .............................. but
Why in Holland promo and in Australia not
That's going to be to complicated for me....................
So for me BP smurfs ...........promo smurfs

Tintin

[Smurfysmurf]

TinTin,
Andre showed something interesting in the picture

"Smurf is a trademark of BP Australia LTD"

which means that BP had the right for the word smurf in Australia..you can normally read "Smurf is a trademark of I.M.P.S...." or nowadays Smurf is a trademark of Lafig Belgium" which means you can only sell smurfs if you got the license for it from Imps or now Lafig..and of course you have to pay them for it.

I think this picture proves that Andre is right and that BP was the distributor of smurfs in Australia and probably also South Africa. This could have been at the same time as they were experiencing with Brazil Hering and Minimodels..in other words when Peyo gave the rights of distributions to several different companies especially outside of Europe....it very probably was at the same time when Wallace Berrie held the US license for smurfs in the US and I think Canada.

The big difference to the BP smurfs sold in Europe is that in that case the smurfs themselves wore the BP trademark and were distributed to "promote" BP as a firm...they may even have been given away to BP's customers, much like the BASF smurfs a couple of years ago.

This is different than what BP did in Australia, where they apparently sold normal smurfs in their stores.

I hope this helps and is not too confusing

[Tintin]

Hi

I am going to be a pain in the *** again

At first the conclusion was that the bags were sold only in SA,
but there is no line on the bags smurf is a trademark of BP.

So if that story is right about the line then it should have been on the bags ................... right ??

If i am correct this then only goes for Australia.
Am i still on the right track ????

Tintin

[Smurfysmurf]

I don't know, TinTin....we won't know for sure unless we find a South African collectors who remembers if BP was the only one selling smurfs..or better yet we find a poster or something similar that shows us who the license and trademark for smurfs had in South Africa at the time.

For me it makes more sense to go with Andre's theory...one reason is that the Australian market seems to be similar to the South African one (i.e. the same McDonald smurfs were sold there so McDonalds considers it the same market)..and it doesn't make sense to me to give away a normal smurf with no mention of the item he is supposed to be promoting except on the bag which is destroyed in most cases.
It doesn't make sense to me especially since BP had commissioned Schleich to make promo smurfs...and also...remember that most promo smurfs were given away in limited numbers..and not sold.

It certainly is fascinating..and it shows that BP has been closely involved with the smurfs for a couple of decades

[Lia]

This is a difficult subject and I don`t know the answer either

I consider the smurfs in the BP bags as promo`s, like Tintin!

But like André said, that trademark phrase is used for Australian smurfs,
like on my Australian keyring smurf in package, so I don`t know what to think???

Lia

[Smurfysmurf]

I am glad there are still mysteries to be solved

One interesting difference is that the BP sign (which is a trademark as well) is not on the Australian package but is on the South African one

[André]

I love these discussions. And thanks for your thoughts!

For me the problem is this; dosn´t matter if BP had the trademark rights or not.

If BP sold all smurfs like this in South Africa, then also all smurfs sold in South Africa would be promos???

So for example the Papa smurf Pierre got when he was 5 years old in South Africa. That would also be a promo just that the bag is thrown away, like I expect happened in almost all cases except for those bought by collectors. Not sure that so many existed in South Africa then?? At least not that many who collect them in that way to still keep them in the bags??

For me the definition of a promo is a smurfs made especially to promote a company, otherwise they are just normal smurfs sold or given away by a company to children.

BUT the boxes or bags like this are always special and off course deserves a special place in our collections but I would not call them promos. ???

It would be very hard to draw the line of a promo if the same smurf sold by the same company suddenly is a promo if still in the bag, and if not in the bag the same smurf is just a normal "lot"-smurf????

So if I take my gardener out of the BP-bag it is no promo anymore???

Maybe it is possible to open the bag carefully and put another "normal"smurf( but more rare smurf ) in that bag and get a really rare promo???

Thanks again for these intresting discussions!!