Smokey says - Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!
Painted poster of Smokey Bear in ranger hat and jeans pouring a bucket of water on a smoking campfire among conifers. The headline says 'Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!' with 'will' underlined; a single statistic is given with no source on the sheet (card-stacking), delivered by the cartoon bear (transfer).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and State of California Division of Forestry (artist Albert Staehle)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1763 (NAID 515435).
Text on the object
SMOKEY SAYS— Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires! [signature:] Albert Staehle [imprint:] U. S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service [imprint:] ☆ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—615994 [imprint:] State of California Division of Forestry
