How Smokey Bear came to be the longest running public service campaign in U.S. history

Are you familiar with the fire safety sensation Smokey Bear? If you aren’t, get ready to meet an icon. 

Smokey is the furry face of forest fire prevention in the U.S. And this year, he’s celebrating his 80th birthday. 

After being first introduced on Aug. 9, 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign has educated generations of Americans about their role in preventing wildfires. But how he got here and what he’s up to now might surprise you. 

This week, Case Studied explores how Smokey Bear came to be the longest running public service campaign in U.S. history.

The Brief:

To get the full story on Smokey Bear, we need to go through a quick history lesson. Smokey Bear was created while the U.S. was fighting World War II. About three months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine fired shells at the Ellwood oil fields, close to the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara, California. 

Though the shelling didn’t do much damage, the following day the local newspaper declared it the, “first attack of war on continental U.S.” With growing fears that the Japanese were going to invade, military units were on high alert. 

Two days after the shelling, troops were using searchlights to look for enemy planes and thought they spotted some. They fired anti-aircraft artillery over Santa Monica Bay, but these sightings were false alarms. As a result of these “war nerves”, there was damage to the city and the incident became derisively known as the Battle of Los Angeles. As a direct result, Smokey Bear come to fruition. 

Americans were very concerned about the potential loss of life and destruction of property that could result from mainland attacks. With Ellwood, for example, incendiary shells exploding in the nearby forest could’ve sparked raging wildfires along the Pacific coast. Augmenting that was the fact that many experienced firefighters had been drafted or enlisted. 

All of this brought forest protection into focus. “It became apparent to the public that we needed to protect America’s natural resources,” said Gwen Beavans, the National Wildfire Prevention Branch Chief at the USDA Forest Service. “If we didn’t have our trees, we wouldn’t be able to support the war effort.” 

To rally Americans around this mission, the Forest Service created the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program (CFFPP) with the help of the War Advertising Council and the Association of State Foresters. 

At first, CFFPP created fire prevention slogans. Early iterations were closely tied to the war: “Forest Fires Aid the Enemy: Use an Ash Tray” or “Our Carelessness: Their Secret Weapon: Prevent Forest Fires.” The latter slogan featured an extremely racist caricature of Imperial Japanese Army General Hideki Tojo. 

Thankfully, the campaign changed tune when Bambi came out. The movie became an instant hit and happened to be based in the forest, starring its inhabitants. This inspired the agency to create a friendly animal face to promote their cause.

The Execution:

Disney actually allowed CFFPP to use images of Bambi characters on their 1944 poster. Though it saw success, Disney only allowed the characters to be part of the campaign for one year. But that’s all the time they needed to show that cute animal imagery was effective. And that’s when Smokey Bear was born. 

Smokey’s original catchphrase was “Smokey says—Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!” The first poster, designed by artist Albert Staehle, showed Smokey putting out a campfire with a bucket of water. 

After the war ended in 1945, the post-war economic boom created an increased risk of campfire disasters. In response to this, Smokey’s catchphrase changed in 1947 to “Remember… Only YOU can prevent forest fires.” 

Just a few years later in 1950, an actual bear came along to help Smokey become a household name. Firefighters rescued a black bear cub from Lincoln National Forest while battling a blaze. A game officer took it to a vet and dubbed it Smokey because of its resemblance to him. That cuddly bear got so much press that it ended up getting flown out to the National Zoo in Washington to become the official symbol of fire prevention.

To solidify Smokey’s place in the zeitgeist even further, country music singer Eddy Arnold came out with the song “Smokey the Bear” in 1952. Around that same time, Smokey Bear started garnering some commercial interest. That’s when an Act of Congress was passed to remove the bear from public domain and place him under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture. With his image protected by U.S. federal law, this act allowed for the use of royalties and fees for use in continued wildfire prevention education. 

Bringing it back to modern day, CFFPP created a new video entitled, ‘Decades’ to celebrate Smokey’s 80th birthday. The film features Brian Tyree Henry doing voice over and was produced pro-bono by the agency FCB New York. 

FCB worked with a team of artists and engineers from Alterian to modernize Smokey Bear’s costume without help from CGI. It took 4 skilled puppeteers to operate the new suit and the agency hired movie poster illustrator Sam Gilbey to create retro movie posters inspired by older versions of Smokey. 

This latest iteration of the campaign was distributed across TV, radio, print, out-of-home (OOH), and digital channels across the U.S. It comes at a time when more Americans than ever are threatened by wildfires due to climate change. According to a study in Nature Sustainability, over half a million Americans faced catastrophic wildfires from 2000 to 2019. 

Smokey has certainly evolved with the times. His appearance changed and his messaging stays current with the latest forest fire prevention safety techniques (i.e. the “drown, stir, feel” method). His PSAs now direct audiences to the campaign’s website, where they can take a pledge to be smart outdoors and learn more about wildfire prevention. Smokey’s on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. He even has an app that’s got a step-by-step campfire guide and a wildfire map, plus free mobile wallpapers featuring classic images of Smokey (cause who doesn’t love a lil’ nostalgia).

The Results:

Since the 1940s, there’s been a 60% decrease in forest fires. Of course, we can’t pinpoint how much credit to give to Smokey Bear for that. But his message has certainly helped reduce the number of acres burned by wildfires annually, from about 22 million in 1944 to an average of 6.5 million today. 

It’s safe to say that Smokey Bear also achieved the feat of being a familiar, beloved face in the States. According to the U.S. Forest Service, nearly 80% of respondents correctly named Smokey Bear when shown his image.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of all is the longevity of Smokey Bear and the message that was expertly crafted into his narrative. For a campaign to survive over 80 years is a miracle in and of itself and rightly deserves the distinction of being the longest running public service campaign in U.S. history.

The Takeaways:

Aside from fire safety, there is so much we can learn from this amazing campaign. Here’s what you can take away from Smokey Bear’s story and his success:

1. Characters are the perfect brand rep

While so much of marketing is going the way of influencers and spokespeople to create a more human connection to brands, characters and in this case, personification of a bear are still very effective ways to promote a product.

One of the main benefits of using non-human brand representatives is that they rarely do anything scandalous to impact your companies image and they have the ability to stand the test of time as iconic characters such as Smokey Bear, Tony the Tiger, Mr. Clean and many others show us.

2. Adapt your messaging to reflect the times

It is no coincidence that the Smokey Bear campaign has managed to survive for over 80 years. The team’s ability to reimagine this campaign throughout modern history based on current events has enabled them to remain relevant.

Whether it be aligning messaging to World War 2 or more recently the rise in wildfires and focused on sustainability, the campaign’s ability to adapt to the world around it has kept it firmly in the public sphere.