Yellow border with black text, and a photograph of Bill Madlock posing in his uniform.

Bill Madlock was a baseball player, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and several other teams, and whose career lasted from 1973 to 1987. Madlock played third and second base, and throughout his career had 2008 hits, 163 home runs, and 4 National League batting titles.

This button was produced by Fun Foods as part of a series of baseball players and was originally sold in packs of three.

White and black text inside a red and white rectangle on a white background with black speckles.

The expression "Where there's smoke, there's fire," has been modified here as an anti-smoking message. Cigarette smoking became popular after World War II, and it would be decades before people truly understood the dangers of tobacco. Studies conducted in the 1940s and 50s showed links between smoking and cancer; however, physicians still debated it.

In 1961, the American Cancer Society urged President Kennedy to investigate the health hazards of smoking. The result was the 1964 Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. During the 1970s, the Surgeon General warned about the dangers of smoking while pregnant, and by the 1980s, concerns grew over second-hand smoke effects on children.

The 1990s saw a rise in anti-smoking groups fighting back against big tobacco. Activists held boycotts, produced extensive media campaigns, and made it uncool to smoke using buttons like this. The average smoking rate fell  40% in the 1970s to 32% in the 1980s and down to 26% in the 1990s.

White text on a purple background.

“Question reality” can mean to challenge or doubt what is considered to be true or real, or to question one’s perception of reality. It can refer to the exploration of how physics and philosophy have changed the perception of the nature of the universe, mind, and reality over time. 

Often, to question reality is to question sense-experiences or sense of reason. Rationalism and empiricism are two main schools of thought that pertain to the issue of understanding the nature and source of human knowledge and therefore relate to the question of reality. Rationalism emphasizes the role of reason in the acquirement of knowledge, while empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence in that same process. Both philosophical movements have made great developments in the attempt to better understand the concepts of reality and existence by providing and exploring these different perspectives of how knowledge is acquired.

Illustration of red lips inside a black "No" symbol with white text.  White background.

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Illustration of a man, woman, girl, boy and dog walking in a line.  Blue text below illustration on a white background.

Life. Be in it. was an advertising campaign put on by the Australia government in the 1970’s to promote awareness for the importance of regular physical activity and to encourage people to be more active. The campaign became one of Australia’s most recognizable health promotions with the cartoon pictured on the button as the main logo for the campaign. Despite losing government funding in 1981, the program still survives through private funding.  

Black text on a yellow background.

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Black background with white text.

A popular saying by book-lovers everywhere, "You can't judge a book by its movie" is a statement about the common assumption that most movies created based on books are generally not as good as the original story. It encourages those who watched a movie to read the book it was based on, without forming prior judgments about its quality.

Blue text on a yellow background.

The rivalry between the University California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) athletics programs, most notably the football and basketball teams, dates back to the 1930s when both schools would pull pranks on each other. The two schools are located only 12 miles apart and at one time shared the Los Angeles Coliseum as their home stadium until 1982, when UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl. Both schools host a number of activities in the week leading up to the rival football game. The Beat ‘SC rally held at UCLA is one of the biggest outdoor gatherings for the school, complete with a bonfire, student performances, and an 8-Clap Heard Around the World video. At USC, Conquest Week brings a rally with a Ferris wheel, food trucks, student performances, and bonfire.

Black and white photograph of Karl Marx on a white background.

Karl Marx was a German philosopher who is best known for his contributions to the socialist movement. His written works, The Communist Manifesto, co-written with his longtime friend and associate Friedrich Engels, and Das Kapital, are considered to be the blueprints for communism. He was an advocate for the working class and had established theories on how capitalism would self-destruct and how society was influenced by economics.

Blue and white photograph of Jimmy Carter illustrated to have long hair and a beard with an outer red edge with white text

Jimmy Carter, a native of Plains, Georgia, was the 39^th President of the United States of America. This button from his successful 1976 presidential campaign, was a reference to both his Christian faith and the feelings amongst his supporters that he would act as a sort of “savior” for the country in the wake of the scandals of the previous Nixon and Ford Administrations. It casts him with flowing hair and beard, as a literal stand-in for another with the initials JC, Jesus Christ. While apparently not created by the official Carter campaign, this imagery and slogan was popular amongst his evangelical supporters and was seen in numerous buttons and posters.