Rhetorical Analysis of Conservation Rhetoric


Rhetorical Analysis of Conservation Rhetoric
USDA Forest Service and "Smokey Bear"





The Ad Council, federal Office of War Information (OWI), and the US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service went in together on the Cooperative Forest Fire Campaign, which was first established in 1942. The campaign was focused on Forest Fire Prevention. In 1949, they ran the above advertisement, which was intended to be put on a bus or subway car.

The every day American was the target of this campaign. It's purpose was to encourage Americans to be more careful in the forests and to not start forest fires. The Ad Council, federal Office of War Information (OWI), and the US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service paired up to push this campaign using the rhetoric strategy of pathos. Although the advertisement was shown to be concerned with the welfare of wildlife, the Ad Council, OWI and USDA Forest Service really pushed the campaign to decrease forest fires that were eating up the nation's resources in order to help the war efforts.

The tone of the above advertisement was to evoke sympathy or guilt. Like I earlier stated, the rhetorical strategy used was Pathos. Pathos is short for pathetic appeals. The purpose of pathos is to evoke emotion in order to gain support or approval.

The longest-running Ad Council campaign is the Forest Fire Prevention campaign, featuring the familiar icon "Smokey Bear" has been up for over 70 years.

The Forest Service started out by making posters such as this one, which came across as too agressive, wild-eyed and also not in the standard Forest Service Ranger equipment.


To better connect with the nation, they went for a calmer approach and granted limited-use of the Disney's Bambi characters. This was very popular with the Forest Service rangers and also with the public. To avoid future copy write issues, the USDA Forest Service created their own woodland creature which was a bear. This bear then turned into what we now know as "Smokey Bear". 


The Smokey Bear campaign has proven to be the longest camping the Ad Council has ever ran, and is also one of the most successful campaigns in the nation. The purpose of preventing wildfires, regardless of the original intent of the campaign, is a timeless effort that has been effectively preventing wildfires for decades now. This is a perfect example of Conservation Rhetoric used in the Windweed Report about reclamation and conservation of lands affected by wildfires.




References:

Grennan, R. (2014, May 14). Getting the Hat Right: The Untold Origin of Smokey Bear. Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://archives.library.illinois.edu/blog/the-birth-of-smokey-bear/



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