The History of the Smiley Badge

The badges pictured here are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. They were donated by Michael Costiff who ran the Kinky Gerlinky nightclub.

The V&A website says:

The smiley face icon has a history within subcultures since the 1970s, when it was associated with the anti-Vietnam hippie culture. Its peak in the British popular consciousness came later, when Rave culture developed in the late 1980s. This was a subculture that adopted the image as symbolic of the euphoria associated with the dance music, clubs and parties and their associated drug Ecstasy. It was recognised as emblematic of this scene in wider society through the symbol’s use in tabloid newspaper headlines, warning of the dangers of raves and drug taking.

According to Wikipedia the first printed version of a smiley face was a sticker applied to receipts by the Buffalo Steam Roller Company in Buffalo New York in 1919. However no pictures of this could be located online.

"WMCA Good Guys" Sweatshirt

In 1962 the New York radio station WMCA produce a promotional "WMCA good guys" sweatshirt featuring a smiley face on a bright yellow background. Thousands of these sweatshirts were given away to listeners.

Harvey Ross Ball - Designer of the Smiley Badge

A year later in 1963 The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts merged with the Guarantee Mutual Company of Ohio. Morale was low among employees and the company hired designer Harvey Ross Ball to design something to boost morale. Ball's solution was a yellow smiley face which was printed on badges.

In 1972 the smiley was first trademarked by Franklin Loufrani who used it to highlight the good news parts of the newspaper France Soir. He invented the word "Smiley" and founded the Smiley Company.

IWFL Badge - 1916

This badge, produced by the Irish Women's Franchise League, was worn by founder member Francis Sheehy Skeffington when he was executed at Portobello Barracks on 26th April 1916. The badge was returned to his wife Hanna Sheehy Skeffington after his death.

Francis Sheehy Skeffington was a supporter of home rule and was not one of the rebels participating in the rising. Francis held a meeting in an attempt to form a citizens' militia to prevent the looting that was going on in Dublin city. On his way home he was followed by a crowd of people who taunted him. They were intercepted by soldiers of the 11th East Surrey Regiment.  A soldier stopped the group and arrested Sheehy-Skeffington after he admitted to sympathy for the insurgents' cause.

The execution without trial of Sheehy-Skeffington along with two journalists is considered a war crime.

I Hate Elvis

Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker was one of the first people in music to realise the potential for making money by selling merchandise like badges.

By the end of 1956 Presley merchandise had brought in $22,000,000. The Colonel even came up with a way to make money out of people who didn't approve of Elvis's swinging pelvis by selling these "I hate Elvis" badges!