One of the most famous advertising symbols in the world, Smokey Bear is now 65 years and going strong. The first Smokey Bear poster was created on August 9, 1944.

For the complete storyline of the Smokey Bear advertising campaign check out the Official Smokey Bear website. This site is great for children and adults.

Smokey Bear or Smokey the Bear was a big part of my childhood. I had comic books, coloring books, stickers and poster of him. I even had a Smokey Bear doll. My first memory of the Smokey story was at about seven years old. We were camping with the Boy Scouts and the Forestry Department put on a campfire show. We sat on log benches facing a stage with a retractable movie screen. They showed a movie of a forest fire in New Mexico and the finding of a badly burned bear cub. This fire was reportedly started with a thoughtless person carelessly discarding a cigarette. I fell in love with that little fighter of a bear.

The real Smokey Bear was originally named "Hotfoot" and died in 1976 at the National Zoo in Washington DC. He was then transported for burial to the Capitan Mountains, his home. He rests in a small park in the Village of Capitan, which is named for this feisty bear in the shadows of the mountains where his life began.

The ad campaign has come a long way since the inception in 1944, but everyone (at least everyone I know) knows the famous words spoken and written:

"Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

References:
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/FORESTRY/ffp/history.aspx
http://www.southernnewmexico.com/Articles/Southeast/Lincoln/Capitan/SmokeyBear.html

Click here to start earning on Xomba!