Smokey the Bear is turning 65.

To celebrate his birthday, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, in conjunction with the Ad Council, tapped ad firm DraftFCB to create a series of public service announcements—pro bono—to remind people about fire safety, according to Advertising Age.

The one ad I’ve seen is simple, quick and classy, although not as effective as the more straight-forward and flashy, “Only you can prevent forest fires” campaign.

Take a look at the new:

And the old:

And one terribly frightening Smokey the Bear ad from 1969:

Yeesh.

Perhaps you’ve heard about Tourism Queensland’s “Best Job in the World” promotion, which sought a temporary caretaker for one of its tropical islands on the Great Barrier Reef.

The PR campaign to promote “Best Job in the World,” from Australian agency Cummins Nitro, captured a record-breaking three top prizes at last week’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, including the first-ever award in the public relations category.

Here’s the video component of that campaign.

I don’t know how much Pepsi paid Michael Jackson to star in this video, but it was worth every last penny.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced this morning that Ford, Nissan, and Tesla will collectively receive $8 billion in loans from the government to help them develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.

OK, more auto companies are receiving government money, what else is new? Wait—Ford is receiving money? Is this the same Ford that has been so vocal about not needing and not wanting the bailout money that has been given to most, if not all, of its U.S. competitors? The same Ford that said in December “it has enough borrowed money to make it through 2009 without government help.”

Yes, same Ford. Different definition of government money.

Both in tweets to concerned customers and again in a phone interview with me, Ford’s head of social media Scott Monty reiterated that this $5.9 billion in Energy Department loans is not a bailout. Yes, it’s government money, but it’s “part of an Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program that was instituted before the auto industry started going south.” Ford signed up for the program back in September—around the time that Congress first approved loans for the U.S. auto industry’s big players—and only companies that are financially viable are eligible, he says. “Manufacturers all the time receive money from the government at one time or another; it’s not to ensure the financial stability of Ford Motor Company.”

Ford has said many times over the past 6+ months that it doesn’t need and it doesn’t want government money. Now, they’re taking government money, albeit for the purpose of developing technology not helping them stay afloat. Will the public pick up on the subtle difference, or, is a government loan a government loan?

In the heated marketing battle between UPS and FedEx, there is an unlikely victim caught in the middle: advertising executive Andy Azula.

You know Andy. He’s the guy with the long hair in UPS commercials drawing all over a white board. Well, Andy is also the creative director at the Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

On the FedEx Web site, brownbailout.com, which is part of the company’s effort to prevent new legislation making it easier for its workers to unionize, there is a parody video of Andy.

I never really liked the UPS ads. Mr. Azula seemed a little too, I don’t know, earthy for me. But the guy in the parody on brownbailout.com looks smug.

I’ll take earthy over smug.

Ragan editor Rob Reinalda passed along this YouTube gem: Ronald McDonald’s television debut. Phew. He was creepy—Ronald McDonald, not Rob—reminded me of Heath Ledger’s depiction of the joker in Dark Knight.

So how did he become so iconic?

You can follow Rob on twitter. He’s @word_czar.

Have you heard of “judo marketing”? I hadn't until I watched this video from the Wall Street Journal. Judo marketing is the practice of getting attention for a brand by mentioning a bigger brand—kind of like my headline.

Turns out there are at least three pitfalls to this style. In this two-minute video, marketing professor Ross Petty breaks it down for WSJ.

It’s a relatively common strategy for companies to try to bring down their competitors. The Apple vs. Microsoft ads that appear frequently on the front page of The New York Times website. The recent Folgers attack on Starbucks’ instant coffee waged on billboards around Chicago. On the surface, it’s not so strange for FedEx to launch a new marketing campaign against its competitor UPS. But the way they’re doing it is a little suspect.

FedEx’s new campaign, in the form of a website called BrownBailout.com, accuses UPS (brown in color and nickname) of seeking a government bailout. It juxtaposes UPS’ income (over $2.1 trillion) with the definition of bailout (“a rescue from financial distress.”) In fact, according to a recent NY Times article, UPS isn’t seeking anything—it’s actually FedEx who’s trying to get something from the government.

They’re trying to get the Senate to not pass a law that would reclassify FedEx Express under different federal labor laws, making it easier to form unions. They’re arguing that doing this would hamper their own progress and help their competitor, UPS. However, UPS has been held under these labor laws for years, so they’re already unionized. In fact, it’s FedEx that has been getting the “bailout,” as they call it, all along.

Watch for a response from the Teamsters union, whose international VP is quoted in the article as saying, “It’s laughable to think that they would portray this as some bailout. This is simply leveling the playing field.” The director of communications at FedEx maintains that FedEx and UPS are fundamentally different companies and they shouldn’t be regulated the same, also, “that piece of legislation only helps one company while hurting a main competitor—if that’s not a bailout, we’re going to have to redefine the word.”

Don't believe the new GM site that has been making its way around the internet since GM's bankruptcy filing last week. It's not real—at second glance. At first glance it looks quite professional.

It's modeled after the GM site re:invention that popped up recently to highlight the changes GM is making for the future, but this one's called re:tardation. Instead of, "Your window into the reinvention of GM... See how we're reinventing the automobile and our company," its tag line is "Your window into the retardation of GM... See how we totally screwed over the American taxpayer."

It's clever ("GM kills electric car, five others in shooting spree.") and, well, funny. Even GM’s Director of Global Communications Technology Chris Barger thought so. He sent me a couple words of wisdom in a Twitter DM (Direct Message) with abbreviations edited out: "Parody is part of the game, you have to be able to laugh at it." So, remember to try to laugh first, and act second (though Barger says GM's decided to stay silent so far).

Also featured on the site, a parody of a video GM came out with the day of the filing. See if you can tell the difference.

By the way, I'm new here on PR Junkie. Follow me on Twitter at @LindseyAMiller or just stop by to see what else Michael and I have to say.

Xerox is behind a new “public service announcement” to warn the office worker of a dangerous ailment, Information Overload Syndrome, also known as IOS.

Do you suffer from it?

Does anyone else think the Xerox video, created by Young & Rubicam, which hit the Internet in May, has a striking resemblance to this Ragan-produced “public service announcement” for Grammar Obsessive Disorder posted in February?

I’m just saying.