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Was Smokey Bear Wrong? The beloved character may have helped fuel catastrophic fires.

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First off, let’s ditch “the.” It’s officially “Smokey Bear.” The definite article only got shoehorned in there in 1952, when his fame was snowballing and a pair of songwriters penned Smokey his own anthem. They jammed “the” into his name for the song’s rhythm.

Second: know he only got his job because Bambi was contractually unavailable. Had Walt Disney been a little more open about loaning out his prancing cartoon deer for government work, Americans may have never heard of Smokey Bear or his famous catchphrase: "Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires.