Subscription Center
Jul 24, 2009 02:00 PM | 5
He’s old enough to collect social security, yet he appears stronger and more hip than ever. Smokey Bear (sometimes called Smokey the Bear) will be celebrating his 65th birthday in August, reports today’s Los Angeles Times.
The anthropomorphic bear, according to the LA Times, was born of “ad men and government bureaucrats hoping to safeguard a key war material: wood.” And after World War II, the adolescent Forest Service icon continued to spread his message that “fire was an enemy that should be eliminated.”
But in the decades that followed, suppression of natural fires thickened forests—creating more fuel for even larger infernos. Critics pointed their fingers at the now middle-aged Smokey for doing too good of a job and not distinguishing between fires that were accidentally or intentionally set and those that promoted healthy forests. A change was needed.
“Get Your Smokey On: Only you can prevent wildfires” is the catchphrase now. It headlines SmokeyBear.com, replacing the outdated “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
Will this help mitigate the rampant wildfires that plague the West? That is the hope. Just today, the Weather Service issued a red flag warning for wildfire danger from the North Cascades to the Idaho Panhandle, reported The Seattle Times. More fires currently burn in California.
Smokey’s new campaign began last month with “a serious message wrapped in the knowing banter of a light beer commercial,” according to the LA Times. And to add further appeal for the 25- to 34-year-old crowd, which is most responsible for starting fires, “Smokey looks like he’s been spending a lot of time in the gym.”
Picture of Smokey Bear sign in California by Caveman 92223 via Flickr
Tags:
wildfires,
smokey bear
More News Blog:
Next: Meet "Tiny," a mouse grown from induced stem cells
Previous: Stopping desertification with bacteria that turn sand into walls
See what we're tweeting about
DNLee5 researching Serengeti Ngorongoro safari options. any recommendations? #Tanzania
David_Bressan May 18, 1980 at 8:32 an earthquake triggers a landslide at St.Helens - the start of a spectacular eruption http://t.co/YQHXXUd1vc
sciam Antarctic Neutrino Observatory Detects Unexplained High-Energy Particles http://t.co/mW07dhU82r
Deadline: Jul 15 2013
Reward: $5,000 USD
SciBX: Science-Business eXchange, a joint publication from the makers
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
5 Comments
Add CommentThis is the MOST irresponsible commercial for fire fighting I have ever seen! Smokey is putting out a flame with his fingers? What are you trying to teach my children? I explained that he probably won't have a 66th birthday after that trick. Birthday candles are to be blown out! NOT touched. Fire is DANGEROUS!!!! In case you didn't know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is the MOST irresponsible commercial for fire fighting I have ever seen! Smokey is putting out a flame with his fingers? What are you trying to teach my children? I explained that he probably won't have a 66th birthday after that trick. Birthday candles are to be blown out! NOT touched. Fire is DANGEROUS!!!! In case you didn't know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is the MOST irresponsible commercial for fire fighting I have ever seen! Smokey is putting out a flame with his fingers? What are you trying to teach my children? I explained that he probably won't have a 66th birthday after that trick. Birthday candles are to be blown out! NOT touched. Fire is DANGEROUS!!!! In case you didn't know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow come Smokey is 65 and telling little kids "only you can prevent forest fires"? While there have been forest fires ever since Smokey started telling little children that, I think it is high time for a more responsible and truthful way to convice childern that they did not cause the forest fires that keep happening. I am with Lois, I dont think Smokey needs another birthday expecially with a candle on a cake! How absurd!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow come Smokey is 65 and telling little kids "only you can prevent forest fires"? While there have been forest fires ever since Smokey started telling little children that, I think it is high time for a more responsible and truthful way to convice childern that they did not cause the forest fires that keep happening. I am with Lois, I dont think Smokey needs another birthday expecially with a candle on a cake! How absurd!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this