Smokey Bear

Meanings

Proper Noun

• A fictional bear dressed as a ranger who acts as a symbol of forest fire prevention, with the slogan "Only you can prevent forest fires."

Noun

• A policeman, especially a highway patrol officer.
• A ranger or park service employee that deals with the public.
• A firefighter.
• A campaign hat.
• An aircraft used to drop defoliants in the Viet Nam war.

Origin

• From an ad campaign first introduced in 1944 by Foote, Cone and Belding in cooperation with the Forest Service and the Ad Council. (Later, in 1950, an actual burned black bear cub was named Smokey and took on this symbolic role.)