French say “non” to underwater SpongeBob statues

Sponge­Bob SquarePants

Sponge­Bob SquarePants and his friends live in the sub­ma­rine city of Bikini Bot­tom — but they won’t get a res­i­dency per­mit in France.

United States-based kids’ TV net­work Nick­elodeon had wanted to place sev­eral 13-foot stat­ues of the yel­low guy under­wa­ter just off the Calan­ques, near the south­ern city of Mar­seille. The Calan­ques are deep, nar­row inlets locally famed for their diverse marine life.

But strong oppo­si­tion from local activists put the kibosh on the idea. They argued that the beau­ti­ful nat­ural site shouldn’t be a mar­ket­ing tool.

The plan was for chil­dren to be able to see the stat­ues when they took div­ing lessons in the area, Thierry Reboul, of the pub­lic rela­tions agency work­ing for Nick­elodeon on the project, said Wednesday.

[Via Agence France-Presse — news.yahoo.com/france-rejects-submarine-sponge-bob-statues-184839435.html]

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