The Smiley 44 / The / - smiley first appeared in 1963 when 2a f an/ the American children's TV programme called The Funny Company featured it with the words ‘Keep smiling’ at the end of 7an / the / - show. In the same year, artist Harvey Ball designed something similar fora / the / — local company. ®4 / The / — company used °a / an / the image to motivate its staff. Ball chose yellow for "a / the / - background because it was ‘sunshiny and bright’. However, it wasn't until 1970 that smileys became widely popular. Two brothers, Bernard and Murray Spain, produced "a/ the / — badge with %a / the / — classic smiley and the words ‘Have a nice day’. 104 / The / - People loved it and, over the next two years, bought around 50 million badges. Very soon, the / — image appeared on “a / the / — huge range of products. Today, hundreds of different smileys are used as. an / the / — emoticons or emojis in “an / the / — online messaging a5 a way of expressing emotions.