Put On A Happy Face

Who can look at a "Happy Face" and not smile? Even after all these years, after seeing it time and time again, we still love its little yellow face! There are so many variations from the original yellow face to various colors to pencil-scrawled faces. Have you ever wondered where the Smiley Face came from? Well, I decided to do some research to see what I could find out about my little smiling friend. Contrary to popular belief, the Happy Face was not invented by Forrest Gump! It turns out that the original happy face was created by Harvey R. Ball, who was a freelance artist. He created the iconic symbol in 1963 for an advertising campaign by the State Mutual Life Assurance Company in Massachusetts. He never copyrighted the symbol and this has resulted in its being in the public domain and it has been used and modified over the years. Wal-mart even took the smiley face to court in 2008 in an attempt to trademark it for their use only! Wal-mart lost its case and the ruling stated that Wal-mart did not own the rights to the Smiley Face. However, since the late 1990's, the Happy Face has been put to good use by its creator, Harvey Ball. He formed the World Smile Corporation and began licensing the smiley face to fund charitable causes. The corporation also sponsors the annual World Smile Day to encourage "acts of kindness". How perfect is it that the smiley face should be used in the pursuit of kindness? Using the Happy Face to encourage people to do acts of kindness . . . it's a good thing!