Bear in the woods

"Bear", a television commercial known for and often referred to by its opening line "There is a bear in the woods", was created for the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign of Republican Party candidate Ronald Reagan. The commercial featured a grizzly bear wandering through a forest, accompanied by narration suggesting that the bear could be dangerous and that it would be wise to be prepared for that possibility. In the final scene, a man appears and the bear takes a step back. The ad ends with a picture of Reagan and the tagline: "President Reagan: Prepared for Peace."

Without directly mentioning opponent Walter Mondale, defense spending, or the Soviet Union (traditionally symbolized by a bear), the ad suggested that Reagan was better prepared to recognize and deal with threats to global stability. Research by award-winning pollster Richard Wirthlin detected the nation's overriding concern about the Soviet Union and how to communicate the solution through subtlety.