Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service in the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history. The Ad Council, the Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters, in partnership with the creative agency FCB, use the character of Smokey Bear to educate the public about the dangers of unplanned human-caused wildfires. The first campaign featuring Smokey began in 1944; it used the slogan "Smokey Says – Care Will Prevent 9 out of 10 Forest Fires". (Smokey's name has always intentionally been spelled differently from the adjective "smoky".) In 1947, the slogan was changed to "Remember... Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires." This version of the slogan was used continually in Smokey Bear campaigns until April 2001, when the message was officially updated to "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires." This change was made in response to a massive outbreak of wildfires occurring in natural areas other than forests (such as grasslands), and to clarify that Smokey was promoting the prevention of unplanned outdoor fires, not prescribed burns. Smokey has also been given additional lines to say throughout the years. According to the Ad Council, in 2018, 80% of outdoor recreationists correctly identified Smokey Bear's image, and 8 in 10 recognized the campaign’s public service announcements. Smokey Bear's name and image are protected by the Smokey Bear Act of 1952 (16 U.S.C. 580 (p-2); previously also 18 U.S.C. 711).
History
Origins
Although the U.S. Forest Service had been fighting wildfires long before the outbreak of World War II, the war brought a new importance and urgency to the effort. At the time, many experienced firefighters and other able-bodied men were serving in the armed forces, leaving fewer at home to fight wildfires. U.S. planners hoped that, if Americans knew how wildfires would harm the war effort, they would work with the Forest Service to reduce their occurrence. The Forest Service began using colorful posters to educate Americans about the dangers of wildfires in the hope that local communities could prevent them from starting in the first place. Careless citizens were not the only fire threat, however; the Empire of Japan considered using wildfires as a weapon, and in the spring of 1942, Japanese submarines surfaced near the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and fired shells that exploded on an oil field close to Los Padres National Forest. In September 1942, Nobuo Fujita bombed the forest outside Brookings, Oregon, though the resulting fire was extinguished quickly. The Japanese military implemented a concerted wildfire strategy later in the war, launching some 9,000 fire balloons into the jet stream; an estimated 11% of these reached the U.S. between November 1944 and April 1945. Only one balloon bomb is known to have caused fatalities: Elsie Mitchell (the wife of Archie E. Mitchell) and five children were killed by one near Bly, Oregon, on May 5, 1945. A memorial was erected at what was later named the Mitchell Monument Historic Site.
Campaign beginnings In 1942, the U.S. Forest Service established the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention program, and on August 13 of that year, Disney's full-length animated motion picture Bambi premiered in New York City. Soon after, Walt Disney allowed his characters to appear in fire-prevention public service campaigns. However, Bambi was only loaned to the government for a year, so after that the Forest Service needed a new symbol. After much discussion, a bear was chosen, based on a rough sketch made by Forest Service artist Harry Rossoll. His name was inspired by "Smokey" Joe Martin, a New York City Fire Department hero who had suffered burns and blindness during a bold fire rescue in 1922. On August 9, 1944, the Forest Service authorized the creation of Smokey Bear as its official symbol. This date has since been considered the character's birthday. The first Smokey Bear poster was delivered on October 10 by artist Albert Staehle. In the first poster, overseen by the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign, Smokey was depicted wearing jeans and a campaign hat, pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. The message underneath read, "SMOKEY SAYS;– Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!" In 1947, the Wartime Advertising Council (later the Ad Council) coined the slogan that was associated with Smokey Bear thereafter for more than five decades: "Remember...only YOU can prevent forest fires." In 2001, the slogan was officially amended to replace "forest fires" with "wildfires" in response to numerous outbreaks of wildfires in natural areas other than forests, and to clarify that the campaign was advocating for the prevention of unplanned fires, not of controlled burns or of fires prescribed for conservation purposes.
Living symbol
The living symbol of Smokey Bear was a five-pound, three-month-old American black bear cub who was found in the spring of 1950 after the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire that burned in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. Smokey had climbed a tree to escape the blaze, yet his paws and hind legs had been burned.
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