But Smokey Bear was close to being a well-loved baby deer known as Bambi. In 1941, in the midst of World War II, one of the first forest fire prevention campaign posters came out. By 1944 ...

Smokey Bear's catchphrase changed from "Only YOU can ... The Walt Disney Co. granted the wartime Ad Council a license to use Bambi in its fire prevention messaging. “And it was really effective.

"Bambi was the [fire prevention] image for the first year, but Walt basically said, 'Yeah, you guys need to kind of come up with your own image,'" Westover said. "He sings 'Smokey the Bear ...

Smokey Bear, the icon for wildfire safety ... After the Walt Disney movie “Bambi,” which includes a scene with a forest fire, was produced, the company permitted the Cooperative Forest ...

On Aug. 9, Smokey Bear ... In 1944, before a bear was chosen as a mascot, Disney loaned characters from "Bambi" for promotions with slogans such as "PREVENT WILDFIRES: Greater danger than ever ...

Disney lent the image of Bambi to the U.S. Forest Service for a campfire safety campaign. But when the agreement expired, the forests needed a new spokesperson. Enter Smokey Bear. Nina Hubbard of ...

16—In locales across the country, Smokey Bear's 80th birthday is being celebrated ... At the same time, Walt Disney's motion picture, "Bambi" played across the country. Disney allowed the ...

and only leased Bambi for a year. So in 1944, artist Albert Staehle designed a poster with a brown bear in ranger gear dumping a bucket of water on a smoldering fire. The caption read, "Smokey ...

Born from a public service advertising campaign, Smokey has achieved his pop culture apogee by association with Bambi in the Disney ... wildly successful Smokey Bear campaign.

“There’s very few who have heard of him,” she said, adding even fewer people realize Walt Disney’s “Bambi” character was used to promote wildfire prevention before Smokey Bea ...

In 2001, Smokey Bear’s catchphrase changed from “Only ... Scaring people gets a message so far.” Bambi changed everything. Bramwell said in early 1944, The Walt Disney Co. granted the ...