Smokey Bear is 80 Years Old

I picked this 1oz Smokey Bear bar up on eBay a while back and this year is Smokey's 80th birthday so I thought I'd share it.

Smokey made his first appearance on a wildfire prevention poster in 1944.

In 1950 there was a bear cub that was orphaned in a wild fire in New Mexico. It was up a tree and got burned but survived. Though not the original, this bear turned into Smokey. He lived until 1976 :)

There's no "the" in Smokey the Bear. It's just Smokey Bear. In the 1950s a country singer, Eddy Arnold had a hit where he sang about "Smokey the Bear", and now every US Forest Service employee has to correct just about everyone.

This bar is funny because Smokey does not say, "give a hoot don't pollute".

Woodsy Owl, was introduced by the US forest service in 1971.

And his catchphrase is, "give a hoot, don't pollute".

Here is some more interesting info on Smokey. Also has a cool video history of Mr Bear ;)
https://weather.com/safety/wildfires/news/2024-08-26-smoky-bear-history-birthday