Wal-Mart Wants Smiley Logo for Itself

That insipid yellow face with the simplistic smile, as if drawn by a half-witted child in first-grade art class, was everywhere in the 1970s. Often, it had “Have a Nice Day” written under it. Perhaps only the swastika and the dollar sign are more recognizable. Wal-Mart wants it as its own logo, and a Frenchman says it’s his. The nine-year battle may soon get resolved without asking why anyone would want such a plain dumb logo.

Wal-Mart, love it or hate it, has got the bucks to buy just about whatever it wants. And apparently, the powers that be there like the smiley face. It’s been on their bags and signs for ages. Now, it isn’t exactly the 1970s face; the perspective is not perfectly perpendicular to the viewer, and there are highlights on the eyes. Still, it’s close enough.

Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, the logo is under trademark in 80 countries, held by SmileyWorld (surely a planet from a bad sci-fi novel) which is a one-man shop run by Franklin Loufrani, a Frenchman. Mr. Loufrani says he invented the smiley face in the aftermath of the 1968 Paris student riots to put a positive spin on the events of that year (sort of an advertising lobotomy for the masses). Yet, when he went to trademark the smiley in the US in 1997 (why the delay?), Wal-Mart objected. The US Patent and Trademark Office should rule in a few weeks as to who gets it.

Mr. Loufrani’s claim is undermined by a competing claim from Harvey Ball, a graphic artist from somewhere near Boston, Massachusetts, who says he invented it in 1963 to cheer up the employees at two insurance companies after a merger that made some unhappy (yeah, that smiley face would make it all better, wouldn’t it?). He got a $45 commission, and by the time he got around to protecting it under copyright laws, millions had been produced, and it had passed into the public domain in the US.

So, it appears Wal-Mart is demanding that it gets exclusive use of a logo that, until now, was public property. Mr. Loufrani claims it as his own, but one must suggest he doesn’t have much of a claim in the US since he didn't act on his claim until the symbol was in its third decade. As far as this journal is concerned, Wal-Mart is welcome to it, but shareholders should probably commission something original. As for Mr. Ball, one hopes he spent his $45 wisely. Frankly, whoever came up with this doodle owes the rest of mankind big time.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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