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ft1 u4Naibua Telegraph, Thursday* September 9, 1971*lt;vlSeveral Firms Claim to Be Originators of Smile ButtonsBy MARK ETHRIDGE 111\l WORCESTER. Mass. (AI’ -'•Everybody knows what a smile button is—the simple yellow v disks with dot eyes and a eur-ved line mouth popping up onN.H. Backs Merger ofeverything from suit lapels to sweatshirts and women's underwear.What no one seems to knowis whose brainchild the smile buttons were. A number of firms are making money from them and a New York radio station has suggested it might be the originator of simile/' But two affiliated insurance companies based here have claimed they were the first to introduce the buttons, and theyhave proof to show they have :been using the smile buttons for at least seven and one-half [years.In December, 1963, Joy P. Young, an assistant director of sales promotion with Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Co. and Guarantee Mutual Assurance Co. of America, developed a campaign to iacrease cheerfulness and helpfulness among the com panics' employes. Seven years later It had become a nationwide rage.It started out as a company] morale booster, Sirs. Young said. I had an idea for a button with a smile on ft as part of the campaign.She took her idea to HarveyBall, a commercial artist InWorcester, and together theycame up with a designstrikingly like the one seen everywhere today.Worcester Mutual and Guarantee Mutual, both membercompanies of The AmericanCroup, ordered 100 of the “smilies, each with an inscription on the back reading ‘The Smile Insurance Companies, Worcester Mutual and Guarantee Mutual.The companies can document their claim that the button goes back at least to February’, 1954. A company publication of that date shows firm president John Adam Jr. wearing the smile button.Another company newspaper from March, 39M has a photograph of the button captioned, Our new look. If our smiles are showing, it’s intentional.The original 300 buttons were distributed to employes in the field and the home office. Soon requests from company customers, kids, and even other companies began trickling in. At the time, the companies filled all the requests free ofcharge.Dear Timmy, reads a typical letter from Mrs. Young to a Connecticut schoolboy. Here are the 15 smile buttons you requested. I am also returning your quarter as the buitoms are free of charge.By 1959 the trickle of requests had become a flood. Letters came addressed to The S iti i 1 e Companies, Worcester, Mass.According to Mrs. Young, ’It began to look as if everyone were using our thing and we were getting nothing out of it. We ended up supplying them to people for public relations work-their public relationswork, not ours.In addition, at five cents a button expenses mounted. Hie companies decided to drastically curtail button distribution. Buttons are still being made for all of The American Group, but mostly for employes.Mrs. Young said she doesn't know for sure why the “smllles caught on, but she has a theory. It’s psychological. I think people are looking for symbols. People have become button conscious in recent years. They are a form of self-expression. Not loo many of the other buttons were happy ones, but ours is.Mrs. Young said she first realized that button craze was un«‘der way a few years ago. Up until that time the buttons which I saw were ours-lhe original button. Then I began seeing some that weren’t ours-•except in terms of design.Mrs. Young, Guarantee Mutual and Worcester Mutual didn’t decide to take credit for originating the button until recently. We didn't mind other people making money from ’smilies/ After all we’re not inthe button business and we’ve never made a dime selling them. The only thing that got us was other people taking credit for them.What got us going on this was a letter from Harvey Ball, the original designer. One publication said that although they didn't know who designed thesmile button, it could have been done by a child. I think Harvey’s pride was hurt, she said.» .filetillicit oil?
Newspaper Details
Nashua Telegraph
Nashua, New Hampshire, US
Thu, Sep 09, 1971
Page 3
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LA, USA 10 Oct 2022
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