The yellow-and-black smiley face is ubiquitous now. One of the earliest uses of it was in 1963, when insurance company Worcester Mutual Fire Assurance wanted to improve morale after they cut a tenth of their staff. "An ambitious upstart in marketing named Joy Young — can’t make this stuff up! — pitched a smile button, to make employees smile. Instant greenlight," writes Playboy's Bill Shaner. Here's his story of the smiley's connection with "the exploitative tendencies of a new free market economic regime." We want to know, what do you think of when you see the smiley? https://www.playboy.com/read/politics/the-dark-history-of-the-smiley-face #History #Culture #Emojis