Planning Smokey Bear’s Retirement
by Cameron Stoker
Animal mascots are effective for engaging information with children. Animal mascots are relatable to children and are engaging to a child's imagination and creativity, and helps to draw their attention to playful characters that can emphasize the retention of learning the material being presented.
Stephen Pyne had a good idea about retiring Smokey Bear and advertising a campaign where Smokey teaches two young cubs about firefighting and firelighting. This is a good way to tie in familiar characters from the old generation with characters from the new generation that improve upon the overall policy of fire management, while not sweeping Smokey under the rug completely.
I played around with some of my own ideas for a new mascot for fire policy. Beavers, hawks, wolves; these animals send certain messages related to their traits, such as preparedness, safety, and perception. Then, why not just use a wildland firefighter as a mascot? Thoughts of a cartoon fire manager in yellow and green, leading a class of children around forest areas teaching them about fire and ecosystems, similarly to the way Ms. Frizzle in the popular children's cartoon "The Magic School Bus" taught the class about a variety of subjects.
A human mascot may represent the fact that we, as human beings, are responsible for fire management, and while animals might work well for children, the most important part is that we are sending the right message. No mascot is going to appeal to everyone. It will take a diverse array of groups and organizations to create a wide variety of mascots, logos, and slogans to cover all vectors of the new message. It will take time for the collective to agree on something standardized especially after 80 years of Smokey Bear.
Take a look at Smokey Bear's homepage ten years after Pyne's article and it has been updated to reflect some changes; If you go to the homepage and click the Wildland Fire tab, the three subsections listed are: Benefits of Fire, Fire Science, and Fighting Wildfires. While the campaign is leading the discussion with "Benefits of Fire", it concludes the message with the words "Fighting Wildfires" and yet there is no tab devoted to "Managing Wildfires" or "Prescribed Fire". I believe an overhaul in Smokey's message is needed, after all he is a fire mascot aimed at children, still using the jargon of war to deliver his message.