Smokey Bear – Who Can Forget Him?
Who could possibly forget Smokey Bear, the U.S. Forest Service’s mascot against forest fires? And his famous words, “Remember…Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires”?
Actually, Smokey has been around a lot longer than we might think. He was born August 5, 1944, the brainchild of the Ad Council and created by art critic Harold Rosenberg. His debut was on a poster drawn by Albert Staehle in which he is shown pouring water on a campfire. His first campaign slogan was “Smokey Says – Care Will Prevent 9 out of 10 Forest Fires.”
Smokey is a large brown bear shown wearing blue jeans and wearing a broad-brimmed Forest Service campaign hat with his name on it. He is often shown with a shovel. The hat itself became famous, and is sometimes called a “Smokey Bear” hat. And that’s why police officers are sometimes called “Smokies” or “bears” by drivers.
The slogan “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires” was created by the Ad Council in 1947. This slogan was updated in April 2001 to “Only YOU Can Prevent Wildfires.” Smokey Bear is administered by three entities: The U.S. Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, and the Ad Council. “Smokey” is deliberately misspelled to separate it from the more common “smoky.”
The actual symbol for Smokey was a three-month-old black bear cub who survived a forest fire in the Lincoln Forest in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico in the spring of 1950. A group of soldiers who were fighting the fire saw the cub and brought him back to their camp. The cub’s first name was Hotfoot Teddy because his paws had been burned by the fire, but it was later changed to the Forest Service’s mascot Smokey.
Smokey the bear cub was nursed back to health and then placed with the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. There he was treated like a celebrity. Smokey was very popular, with thousands of visitors each year and tons of fan mail. The Ideal Toy Company even had a Smokey doll beginning in 1952 and a Junior Ranger program in which multitudes of kids participated.
Smokey was given a mate, Goldie Bear, but they didn’t have any cubs. So the zoo put an orphaned cub, also from the Lincoln Forest of New Mexico, in their pen, calling him Little Smokey. When Smokey retired in 1975, Little Smokey took his place with a name change to Smokey II. Little Smokey died in 1990.
When Smokey died in 1976, he was buried in Capitan, New Mexico in what is now the Smokey Bear Historical Park. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal newspapers even ran obituaries for him (even if they were tongue-in-cheek). Smokey remains so popular that thousands of visitors each year come to the Interpretive Center near his grave.
Why was Smokey Bear necessary? And why was there such a concern in 1944 about forest fires?
Forest fires were a reality in certain parts of the United States, especially in the Western states of California and Oregon. It took manpower to fight the fires, manpower that was no long available when able-bodied men joined the armed forces during World War II. So the Forest Service was naturally concerned and felt it needed community support and help in preventing fires in the first place.
The Forest Service was also concerned that the Japanese military would launch fire bombs into Oregon and start forest fires that way.
So Smokey Bear was created, his name inspired by “Smokey” Joe Martin, a New York City Fire Department hero from 1922.
Smokey Bear became a celebrity, appearing in radio, comic strips and cartoons in the 1950’s. The Ideal Toy Company made Smokey dolls. Coloring books, toys and other collectibles followed. So popular was Smokey and his commercial interests that Congress passed the Smokey Bear Act in 1952. The act took Smokey from the public domain and put him under the Secretary of Agriculture. As provided by the act, royalties from Smokey’s commercial enterprises are used for continued education about forest fires.
Smokey Bear is a well-known national figure. He has appeared in animated series for over 50 years. A commemorative stamp was issued for him on his 40th anniversary in 1984. And Capitan, New Mexico, considered Smokey’s home town, started a “Smokey Bear Days” celebration in 2004 for Smokey’s 60th birthday.
Richard Earle, author of The Art of Cause Marketing (2000), sums Smokey up nicely: “Smokey is simple, strong, straightforward. He’s a denizen of those woods you’re visiting, and he cares about preserving them. Anyone who grew up watching Bambi [Disney, 1942] realizes how terrifying a forest fire can be. But Smokey wouldn’t run away. Smokey’s strong. He’ll stay and fight the fire if necessary, but he’d rather have you douse it and cover it up so he doesn’t have to.”
And, since we’re talking teddy bears, yes, Smokey Bear has a line of soft teddy bears we can hold to remind us all to take care of our fires when we camp in the woods.