___I couldn't help noticing that Smokey the Bear is going through a little makeover. Not that I'm a Smokey the Bear fanatic or anything but doesn't this happen like every year? Maybe it's just Deja Vu. Anyway... this makeover makes Smokey the Bear only the 17th cartoon, public service spokesperson, or breakfast cereal icon to be made edgier since 1995. This NEW Smokey is apparantly darker and more badass than previous versions which depicted Smokey praying that people will pleeease not leave fires unattended. This new take no crap Smokey is a throwback to the pre-Smokey period in which fire-prevention posters typically depicted demonic skeletons on horseback, riding through the woods torching everything. The first depiction of Smokey had a slightly less memorable slogan. "Only you can prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires." After that there was the questionable "Hold it 'til it's cold" slogan.posted by Adam 8/29/2002 02:01:00 PM
According to one Forest Fire prevention guy (I forget where I saw it, but I did), "You CAN'T prevent forest fires from happening. Not even YOU. Especially not YOU." The AD Council's new philosophy is to focus on adults (who tend to smoke and have access to gasoline and lighter fluid and stuff like that) instead of children (who can't even light a match without help) as the causes of all these fires. Many liken this to when The Simpsons started focusing more on Homer than Bart. But kids will still have a place at the Smokey the Bear website, thanks to interactive Flash games like this one where you help Ranger Bob cross a wildlife infested river and get to the fire on the other side. Any resemblence to Frogger is completely baseless.
