Bears loom large as advertising and corporate mascots. The most illustrious and illustrated of all is Smokey (the) Bear, who, along with Paul McCartney, Roger Daltry and Shelley Fabres, among others, turned 80 in 2024. Created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention effort is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history, and doubtless the most successful at highlighting the role ordinary citizens have in preventing fires.
On Aug. 9, 1944, the creation of the mascot was authorized by the U.S. Forest Service. Saturday Evening Post illustrator Albert Staehle (1899–1974) was asked to collaborate. “The Rangers suggested a woodchuck or a raccoon,” wrote Margory Houston Staehle in American Legion Magazine (1977), one of her husband’s foremost clients. “‘The raccoon looks too much like a burglar,’ Al protested. So they settled on a bear.”
The first poster was delivered on Oct. 10 by Staehle. It depicted a bear pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. Many iterations followed over the years.
A bear, Staehle is reported to have explained, “could be portrayed as the father of the forest.” Smokey was named after Smokey Joe Ryan, a famous New York City fire chief. “Al received only ‘expenses’ for his posters,” wrote Margory. (The original brown bear who was the model for “Smokey” died in 1976/77 of natural causes.)
Not only is this a major birthday for Smokey, it comes at a time when forest fires have been rebranded “wildfires” to underscore the increased frequency and ferocity of such deadly blazes.
