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“The devil made me do it” is a phrase associated with Geraldine Jones, a character created by comedian and variety television show host Flip Wilson in the late 1960s. Born Clerow Wilson in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1933, Wilson was known by the nickname “Flip,” from “flip out.” He became one of the most popular African-American comedians in history and influenced later entertainers such as Arsenio Hall and Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Wilson got his start in the mid-1950s in San Francisco while working as a hotel bellhop. After performing in small clubs and theaters across the country, he went to New York, where he appeared on the Tonight Show, the Ed Sullivan Show, and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. He was given his own television show, the Flip Wilson Show, in 1970. Geraldine became one of his most popular stock characters and was known for phrases like “the devil made me do it” and “what you see is what you get” (the source for the commonly-used Internet acronym “wysiwyg”). Wilson retired from show business in 1974 to spend more time with his family. He died in 1998.

Flip Wilson. (1999). In Contemporary Black Biography. (Volume 21). Detroit: Gale.

A shriveled and deformed face with long blonde hair that is getting brushed with text centered below it on a red background with dandruff particles.

This button is one of many in a series of "Weird-O's" monster buttons created for distribution in bubblegum machines by the Green Duck Button Company in the 1960s. While this one features a shriveled-up shrunken head, other buttons in the series featured such classic monsters as Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula, and Wolfman -- all sporting equally humorous and pun-laden quotes.

Black text below an illustration of a green Godzilla-like monster wearing sunglasses, yellow button-up shirt, red bow tie, white pants, and red and yellow sneakers.  

Bob Zilla is a character created by video producer, animator, and cartoonist John Charles Lamb (Lamb also works under the pseudonym Bob Sweeney). John Lamb first made a name for himself in the 1970s with his invention of the Lyon Lamb Video Animation System, a rotoscope animation system for which he won an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement. Many of Lamb’s animations highlight surfing culture, and there is a permanent exhibit dedicated to his work at the California Surf Museum. In the 1980s, Lamb founded John Lamb Productions, which licensed merchandise like apparel, buttons, mugs, and greeting cards based off of Lamb’s cartoons. John Lamb Productions operated through the 1990s. 

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When this phrase first aired on America's televisions in a 1972 Alka-Seltzer commercial, there were only a handful of TV stations. It quickly became a popular phrase in American culture, and was selected as one of the ten best quotes of the 1970's by Newsweek. It was so popular that another Alka-Seltzer commercial was aired in 1972 featuring the now popular phrase.

An illustration of a profile of an orange ram with blue horns and a pale yellow face below orange text on a white background.

What’s your Sign? Aries refers to the first astrological sign in the Zodiac. The ram is associated with Aries because Aries are often leaders and impulsive. The sun journeys the Aries constellation between March 21^st and April 20^th. Aries are often known to be courageous, optimistic, enthusiastic, independent and generous. Conversely, Aries can also be moody, short tempered, impulsive, impatient and self-involved. Aries are also known for having athletic bodies and youthful attitudes. The zodiac element associated with Aries is fire. Aries is most compatible with Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. James Lovell, Sandra Day O’Connor, Elton John, Vincent Van Gogh, Christopher Walken, Doris Day, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Mancini and Charlie Chaplin are all Aries. 

Metallic text circling the edge with a optical pattern in the the center with red outside border.

This optical pattern derives from the works of Victor Vasarely, notably his oil-on-canvas painting, Vega (1956). Vasarely is widely known as the “grandfather” of Op Art. Op Art employs abstract patterns composed with a stark contrast of a foreground and a background to produce effects that excite and confuses the viewer. Vasarely’s works of Op Art often consist of calibrated patterns of concave and complex shapes, making his paintings’ surfaces appear like an object warping out of dimension. Vega (1956) suggests that the depth and movement of the checkerboard represent a vital moment in the development of Vasarely’s style by establishing a notable technical effect of Op Art.

The phrase “putting me on” means to tease someone by convincing them of something nonsense. This may be used to emphasize the style of Op Art as the design appears to have a checkerboard pattern popping out of the button.