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Smokey Bear Is Clearly Over Your Shenanigans

To celebrate Smokey Bear’s 73rd birthday, the Ad Council has released a suite of new online videos and posters to promote awareness of our impact on wildfires. And you can start to tell that, after all this time, he’s really tired of us not listening.

https://youtu.be/6wWzD3mlC3M

Coals are hot. Add water. Quit being a dumbass.

In each of the three videos, Smokey has to come to the rescue – yet again – to save us from ourselves. And each time, we want to pal around with the guy. And each time, he’s really not feeling it. He doesn’t have time for your stupid selfie – he needs to hurry to the next possible fire and try once again to teach us the seemingly impossible task of using water.

I don’t blame him one bit. If I had to spend 73 years (the longest running PSA campaign in U.S. history) telling you to put your damn fires out, don’t count on a game of frisbee or a fist bump. Seriously, he told your grandparents the same thing when they were your age and wildfires in the American west have only become larger and more frequent over the past few decades. A weaker bear would’ve given up a while ago and just let us burn ourselves up – but not good ol’ Smokey, who continues to fight the good fight.

After all this time, we still haven’t learned our lesson. Perhaps only Smokey Bear can prevent wildfires.

Patrick King

Patrick is the Founder of Imagine and advisor to places on brand strategy and creative. His insights have been published in Inc. Magazine, SmartCEO, Washington Business Journal, The Washington Post, and Chief Marketer, among other publications, and shared at conferences throughout the US. He also has an amazing sock collection.

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