In 1963 the State Mutual Life Assurance Company hired the graphic artist Harvey Ball. The company wanted to lift employee morale after a rocky merger. It also wanted employees to smile while they used the phone. Ball drew a smiling face. The drawing took ten minutes, and he was paid $45.
In the early 1970s two brothers from Philadelphia, Bernard and Murray Spain, sold products with the face. They added a slogan, “Have a happy day.”