Duck and Cover
I was reading an article in Smithsonian today about the use of cartoon characters by various entities to promote awareness of safety practices. The primary topic was related to Smokey Bear and how his message of fire prevention has become a problem over time. The extreme focus on fire prevention has largely eliminated even the good fires that allow the forest to thrive and avoid catastrophic fires. In recent years, Smokey's tag line was changed from, "Only you can prevent forest fires," to, "Only you can prevent wildfires." But some are saying he should be retired altogether. I don't really agree... I love that bear. In the same article, though, there was an info-graphic that explored other characters from times past. One that was of particular interest to me was Bert the Turtle. How many of you know who Bert was? I'm guessing many of the younger folks don't. I had heard of his message - "Duck and Cover" - but I'd never heard of Bert ...