Smiley’en er nu blevet til et moderne kommunikations-middel i vores online skrift, men tilbage i de tidlige 70’ere var det nu mere et moderne mode fænomen med alskens knapper, stof-mærker, og klister-mærker. Jeg havde f.eks. en Smiley lap på mine jeans i midten af 70’erne. 50 millioner solgte Smiley knapper blev opnået, da man nåede til banner året 1972, så selvfølgelig måtte satire tegneseriebladet “MAD” kommentere dette samfunds-fænomen på en forside det år, og se nu godt efter, for én af de afbildede smiley’er ligner en vis fjollet maskot dreng ved navn Alfred E. Neuman, hvis smil (grin) er næsten ligeså ikonisk som Harvey Ball’s design, men også kun næsten:
MAD #150.
NY: E.C. Publications, 1972. 1st. 4to (11-13″), 48pp, b&w, softcover color wraps.
fra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley
The iconic smiley with the black ink smile and two oval dots for eyes inside of a black circle printed on a yellow background was created by freelance artist Harvey R. Ball in 1963 in an advertising campaign by The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Ball never copyrighted or trademarked the symbol resulting in its being in the public domain and modified by countless artists over the years.
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The graphic was popularized in the early 1970s by Philadelphia brothers Bernard and Murray Spain, who seized upon it in September 1970 in a campaign to sell novelty items. The two produced buttons as well as coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers and many other items emblazoned with the symbol and the phrase “Have a happy day” (devised by Gyula Bogar) which mutated into “have a nice day”. Working with New York button manufacturer NG Slater, some 50 million smiley badges were produced by 1972.
In the 1970s, the Smiley face (and the accompanying ‘have a nice day’ mantra) is also said to have become a zombifying hollow sentiment, emblematic of Nixon-era America and the passing from the optimisim of the Summer of Love into the more cynical decade that followed.
Rhino i USA har udsendt en CD serie med blandede AM radio radio hits fra 70’erne, der er selve indbegrebet af Smiley’s overfladiske tids-ånd, og serien hedder selvfølgelig “Have a Nice Day”, og kan varmt anbefales:
Og Harvey Ball har sin egen hjemmeside og fond på http://www.worldsmile.org/
The Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation was established in 2001 to honor the name and memory of Harvey Ball, the artist who in 1963 created that international symbol of goodwill, the smiley face. Harvey Ball believed that each one of us has the ability to make a positive difference in this world and he lived according to that belief. He knew that any effort to improve the world, no matter how small, was worthwhile. And he understood the power of a smile and a kind act. In furtherance of that philosophy the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation focuses on small, grass-roots charitable efforts that otherwise receive little attention or funding.
Og her smiler Harvey Ball til fotografen:
