Anybody Give a Hoot?

For 26 years, Smokey the Bear has been a uniquely successful advertising gimmick to remind Americans about the dangers of forest fires. Now the Federal Government wants to spread the word about environmental pollution, but it is caught up in a bureaucratic battle over what cartoon character should embody the cause.

The Interior Department champions its three-year-old Johnny Horizon, an earnest-looking, middle-aged white outdoorsman who, critics say, cannot possibly appeal to the young, to ethnic groups and to those who live in cities, where the pollution problem is worst. His message, "This land is your land . . . Keep it clean!", is not exactly a zinger, either. The U.S. Forest Service has countered with Woodsy the Owl, presumably a wise and likable bird whose message, "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute," may have a better chance of reaching children; they in turn might be counted on to badger their parents about littering and similar offenses.

Neither agency will bow to the other's choice for the sake of having a single symbol. Meantime, a Ford Motor Co. designer named Elwood Engel argues for eliminating both Johnny and Woodsy. His proposed substitute: Ollie and Polly, "the oxygen molecules with the message."

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