Money (item)

Money is an item used by humans in the manner of commerce and trade, allowing them to purchase goods and services from each other, and is commonly used as a symbol of status and wealth. Money usually takes the form of coins minted in gold, copper, and silver in the era that the Smurf stories take place. In the modern age world that the Smurfs visit in the 2011 movie, money is also in the form of paper bills as well as credit and debit cards.

Unlike humans, the Smurfs generally do not use money because everything they do and create is usually for the benefit of the whole community and that they freely share whatever they have with each other, putting their value more in friendships and family rather than personal possessions. That does not mean that the Smurfs will not engage in trade when it comes to dealing in exchanging goods and valuables with other races. Nevertheless, their choice of a communal system of sharing over a capitalist system of money makes the Smurfs be seen by certain readers and watchers of Smurf stories as promoters of communism, though their society is more family-based than nation-based.

In Smurfs Media
There are Smurf stories that deal with money and its effect on people, including the Smurfs. In the comic book story "The Finance Smurf", the title character is enamored with the idea of money and introduces a capitalist monetary system into the Smurf community through the use of coins minted from "yellow rocks" that Miner had dug up. Unfortunately, the monetary system proved to be a destructive force as the Smurfs found themselves no longer acting in the spirit of cooperation, and ultimately they rejected the whole system and went back to their communal ways, turning the gold coins into musical instruments.

In the cartoon show episode "The Smurfs And The Money Tree", Gargamel's mother used a literal money tree that produced golden goodies to induce greed upon the Smurfs in order to destroy each other. Greedy was the main recipient of this money tree, who was tempted by the devil Smurf that came with the tree to keep all the golden goodies to himself and to not give any of them away to his fellow Smurfs unless they had something valuable they could exchange it for. This made the other Smurfs perceive Greedy as really being greedy, loving possessions more than his fellow Smurfs, and when Greedy saw that his fellow Smurfs really didn't need possessions in order to have fun, he gave all their stuff that they exchanged for the golden goodies back to them. Papa Smurf then returned the money tree to Gargamel and his mother, who ended up fighting among themselves over possession of the tree.

Despite their system of sharing things with each other rather than selling and trading things with money, the Smurfs do not tolerate stealing and will often act against those who are involved in stealing, even if it's whatever humans put their value in such as money. In the story "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute", they help Sir Johan and Peewit deal with a thief named Matthew McCreep, who used their magic flute to steal valuables from the townsfolk in order to raise up an army for Earl Flatbroke, by creating a second magic flute.

Strangely, in the Facebook game The Smurfs & Co., the player earns money by keeping the Smurfs happy through constantly stocking Smurf houses and structures that they will frequent, and in turn the money can be used to put up more Smurf houses and structures in the Smurf Village that you are building. However, the player needs smurfberries in order to buy energy potions so that your Smurf player will continue to work.

Empath: The Luckiest Smurf stories
As with the mainstream media Smurfs, the ones in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series do not use money in their everyday business. However, Trader does engage in trading things with his fellow Smurfs to get things that he wants (or to give things that they want). His brief stint as Finance Smurf has taught him the value of every Smurf's well-being over that of constantly earning money.