France Say No SpongeBob SquarePants Statues

Sponge­Bob SquarePants who lives in the sub­ma­rine city of Bikini Bot­tom was looking to get a res­i­dency per­mit in France. Nick­elodeon wanted to place sev­eral 13-foot stat­ues of Sponge­Bob and friends under­wa­ter just off the Calan­ques, near the south­ern city of Mar­seille. The Calan­ques are deep, nar­row inlets famed for their diverse marine life. But French activists were not feeling the idea. They argued that the beau­ti­ful nat­ural site shouldn’t be a mar­ket­ing tool. Thierry Reboul of the pub­lic rela­tions agency work­ing for Nickelodeon on the project said Wednesday “The plan was for chil­dren to be able to see the stat­ues when they took div­ing lessons in the area”