Created in 1944, Smokey the Bear, the mascot for the U.S. Forest Service, is the longest running public service campaign in American history. Smokey came into being during World War II after a Japanese submarine fired on a Pacific Coast oil field near the Los Padres National Forest. With so many experienced firefighters and other able–bodied men off at war, the government quickly realized that it was ill–equipped to fight a major forest fire, caused by arson or started accidentally.

To raise public awareness, the War Advertising Council launched a fire–prevention poster campaign using slogans like "Our Carelessness, Their Secret Weapon." Then in 1944, Walt Disney Studios lent the U.S. Forest Service the use of "Bambi" to coincide with the premiere of the motion picture. The innocent fawn was a huge hit. So much so that the Forest Service decided it needed a permanent animal mascot. Enter friendly Smokey Bear, dressed in Ranger hat and dungarees with shovel in paw, advising bear cubs and children: "Only you can prevent forest fires."

The fictional bear was brought to life in 1950 when firefighters rescued a scared, orphaned cub clinging to a charred tree during a New Mexico forest fire. The plight of the injured cub won America's heart and became a living symbol of Smokey Bear. The Forest Service mascot became so popular that Congress passed an act in 1952 to take Smokey out of the public domain and place him under the Department of Agriculture. Smokey was even celebrated in a 1952 hit song written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. To get the name to rhyme with the lyrics "prowlin' and growlin' and sniffin' the air," the songwriters changed Smokey Bear to "Smokey the Bear," and that's what most people still call him.