It would have had more shock value
Since that was the supposed aim:
Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers.
I agree with Tom here. The politics are quite obvious. Less about shock, more about "shock and awe". My kneejerk reaction in fact was "Do the Smurfs also fly kites before the bombs fall like in Fahrenheit 911"?
Yes, showing children being raped, tortured and mutilated, being macheted, stabbed and shot to death, as happens in many war-torn areas of the Third World, would have been more shocking and more pertinent.