The first Smiley Face was created by commercial artist Harvey Ball in 1963 for an insurance company that wanted an internal campaign to improve company morale.

The smiley face craze was the work of two brothers, Bernard and Murray Spain, who were in the business of making would-be fad items. In September of 1970, the country in the midst of protest and war, they were casting about for some peace symbol-like item with more general appeal. Bernard dashed off a smiley face, Murray added the slogan "Have a happy day," and soon they and their many imitators were cranking out buttons, posters, greeting cards, shirts, bumper stickers, cookie jars, earrings, bracelets, key chains, and more. The fad lasted about a year and half; the number of smiley buttons produced by 1972 was estimated at 50 million.