In 1943, Walt Disney made available the characters from his animated feature Bambi to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service to use in a poster promoting the prevention of forest fires. According to SmokeyBear.com:
"The "Bambi" poster was a success and proved that using an animal as a fire prevention symbol would work. A fawn could not be used in subsequent campaigns because "Bambi" was on loan from Walt Disney studios for only one year; the Forest Service would need to find an animal that would belong to the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign. It was finally decided that the Nation's number one firefighter should be a bear."
Thus, on August 9, 1944, a certain and future iconic character was born.
And even today, the Walt Disney Company remains active in the cause.
Hi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that Disney continues this effort. From past posts and other sources it seems like Disney was very involved in making their properties available for such public service in the past.
Paul B.
This is fascinating stuff! A year or so ago there was a new "prevent forest fires" billboard near my home in Los Angeles that featured new art of Bambi and Thumper. So the tradition continues!
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