Smokey Bear

Smokey Bear is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created in 1944 to educate the public on the dangers of forest fires. Initially the Forest Service used Bambi, from the Walt Disney film, on its posters, but Bambi was only loaned to them by Disney for one year, so a new animal mascot had to be created. The bear's first poster was prepared on August 9, 1944. In 1952, after Smokey Bear became popular enough to attract commercial interest, The Smokey Bear Act, an Act of Congress was passed to take Smokey out of the public domain and place him under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture. The Act provided for the use of Smokey's royalties for continued education on forest fire prevention.

Parodies of Smokey

A parody of Smokey, along with his catchphrase, was used for an episode of Dexter's Laboratory.

Related Topics:
Catchphrase - Dexter's Laboratory

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In the Simpsons episode Mountain of Madness, Bart Simpson encounters an interactive educational Smokey-shaped exhibit at a national park:

Related Topics:
Simpsons - Mountain of Madness - Bart Simpson

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• (The bear has two buttons, "You" and "Me")
  Smokey: Only who can prevent forest fires?
  (Bart presses the "You" button.)
  Smokey: You pressed "You," referring to me. That is incorrect. The correct answer is "You".
  (Bart kicks the bear.)