Smokey The Bear

Smokey the Bear is credited as the longest continually running Public Service Announcement campaign in history... No doubt a successful program educating citizens about the dangers of forest fires and how they can be prevented.  But the campaign has another fascinating legacy--Art.  Some of the best illustration work of the past decades has been used in the efforts of promoting Smokey the Bear and his environmental messages.  The best of the Smokey drawings are one third Audubon quality realism, one third classic American children's book illustration (think Uncle Wiggly), and one third in the style of the golden age hand animated cartoons (Disney, Warner Brothers, etc), with a unique final aesthetic.

Just check out the image below (from 1950) to get an idea:

The campaign is also one of the ultimate exercises in Americana.  I grew up in small town New England, just down river from a State Forest of approximately 12,000 acres.  It is nearly impossible to drive through my county without seeing at least some Smokey the Bear relics.  Some are new, displayed proudly outside of volunteer fire departments... but some are quite old.  In the forest I have mentioned highlights include Smokey the Bear weathervanes, as well as a large stunningly rendered image on fiberglass which has faded with decades of sunlight.  I have little doubt that we have more Smokey Bear items in the area, than actual bears.  This really is the epitome of Americana: objects with an artistic quality that originally served as promotional imagery, that survive now as a sort of small town decor.  They go hand in hand with the CCC buildings that dot the New England landscape.  In some regions of the United States it's old Coca-Cola signs.  For us it's Smokey.

Even with this first-hand knowledge of Smokey the Bear artifacts and history, I was surprised by the actual breadth of the Smokey the Bear campaign.  He appeared on radio shows singing with Roy Rogers, had a Postal Service stamp created in his likeness, and appeared on the cover of Newsweek.  And those are just a few of "his activities" at the very start of the 1950s alone.  An excellent new website by the U.S. Forest Service, State Foresters, and the Ad Council, documents this historical campaign by decade.  Just click on THIS LINK to take a romp through Smokey history.  You may be surprised by what you find.

He was one of my childhood heroes, and the art remains one of my big influences.  I doubt that I am alone.