"Button Pushers." Newsweek, 1967
What better place for historic button info than the Chicago Public Library? Check out this Newsweek article, “The Button Pushers,” about outrageous buttons in a Life and Leisure column from 1967.
These buttons totally resonate today. Does “Save Water, Shower with a Friend” sound like a familiar eco-friendly message? It’s the opposite of the “How Dry I Am” button from 1934 Johnson Smith catalog in a previous post.
That’s why it’s important to design and make high quality buttons that stand the test of time.
This reminds me of a set of buttons that I proudly wore back in 1968 or so. They read, “I Love Snoopy”, “Snoopy Loves Me”, “Eugene McCarthy for President” and “Flower Power”, to name a few. McCarthy read all of my buttons when we greeted him at one of his campaign stops. I felt so special.
Amy that is so cool! Did you save your buttons? Any photos?
Don’t think I still have those specific buttons but I probably have a few other older buttons stashed away somewhere. I’ll try and dig them up sometime and when I do I’ll definitely send photos!
can you make these buttons available in pictures?
i like the save water one!
—”It’s the opposite of the “How Dry I Am” button from 1934 Johnson Smith catalog in a previous post.”— <— what previous post? i can't find it, and i just purchase this button at an antique shop. i'm looking to know more about it.
cool! here’s a link to the original catalog that sold that button: http://busybeaverbuttons.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/button-sighting-depression-era-pins/
Great find!
Love this quote:
“The button craze is a mass protest against mass hypocrisy”
I often make the point that the button was the first P2P medium.