Smokey Bear Coronavirus

This is a card that I received at a restaurant a few days ago. Along with this they provided bags to put masks in while we ate so that we did not have to put the masks on the table or another unsanitary surface. I really like this design because it takes the very common image of Smokey Bear who was originally used to promote forest fire prevention and adapts it to a very prominent issue right now. They also use Smokey Bear’s saying and adapt it for the coronavirus. The bear also has glasses like the infamous Dr. Fauci and Fauci’s name on his hat. This is very important because he is the director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is a very prominent figure when it comes to the coronavirus and safety recommendations. This card also has “Please!” in large red lettering at the very top for an attention grabber. At the bottom, common sites to look up information about the coronavirus is at the bottom in easily readable font. Overall this card is very aesthetically pleasing and uses a clean and very commonly known figure to promote safety during the pandemic.

Discussion — One Response

  • Sammy Flores 03/05/2021 on 3:34 AM

    I’m a huge fan of design parody, and I think that this is a great example of it being done well. I did some research on Empire Eats and could not find the designer for the card; even a reverse image search gave me no hits.

    That being said I did find something interesting about the Smokey Bear imagery, there are pages of documentation of guidelines on how to properly use the Smokey Bear character. I’ll leave a link for it here:
    https://smokeybear.com/guidelines/SmokeyBearUseGuidelines.pdf

    On page 11 there’s a section called advertising and art, that specifically mentions what kind of advertising Smokey can appear in, and what kind of messages are permitted to be displayed with him.

    Obviously the use of the Fauci Smokey Bear is intended to be in good fun, but I wonder how problematic something like that could be if someone decided to complain about it!

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