Plain and cursive text on white background.

In the 1960s, Underground Uplift Unlimited, based in Manhattan, produced buttons with countercultural slogans.

Two-tone green button with dark green text on light green background on the upper half and light green text with dark green background on the lower half.

The Sad Sack was a comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during WWII. The expression was made by shortening the military slang "sad sack of shit".

A sad sack is an inept person who makes mistakes despite good intentions.

Red text on a green shamrock with red background.

This button was dispensed by a gumball machine in the 1950s. The phrase "Put up or shut up" means that one should either take action in order to realize what they've been talking about, or stop talking about it. The phrase has close relation to the saying "Put your money where your mouth is," as in support your boast with evidence. It is also possible that the phrase comes from the poker game. To put up is synonymous with ante up, in which "ante" means "pot." Another theory maintains that the impolite remark was originated from pugilist trash talk, which calls opponents to either put up your fists to fight or back down.

Dark blue text and illustration of a homely kid on a pink background.

Black text on yellow background.

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White text on a red background.

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Black text on a white background.

Many pinback buttons were distributed with High Admiral Cigarettes to promote the Hogan's Alley comic strip, created by Richard F. Outcault (1863-1928).  The comic strip featured the character The Yellow Kid, AKA Mickey Dugan, a bald young boy wearing an over-sized yellow nightshirt, on which would be written different quotes (such as the example pictured) which featured in the comic.  The Yellow Kid first appeared in Truth, a weekly humor magazine in 1883, but gained city-wide success appearing in the New York World newspaper as a single-panel color cartoon called Hogan's Alley in 1895.

Blue illustration of Andy Gump with white background, blue text and blue and white checkered edge.

The Gumps, created by Sidney Smith, were a popular comic strip about a middle-class family. It ran 42 years in newspapers from 1917 to 1959. Chinless character Andy Gump is seen here saying one of his frequent expressions, "Oh Min", referring to his wife Minerva.

Bold blue lettering on yellow background.

Pro-alcohol button that allows the wearer to "test" anyone's drink.

White text on red background.

This pinback was given out as a premium when a package of Favorite Cigarettes was purchased. The phrase "Nobody loves a fat man" was made popular in 1907 by the Broadway play The Round Up. The slogan became a kind of proverb during the first half of the twentieth century and was used often in advertisements.  

Favorite Cigarettes were first manufactured in 1886 in Richmond, Virginia by the Pace and Sizer Tobacco Company and the ownership of the cigarettes would change multiple times until production was ceased. The company that manufactured this particular pinback, Whitehead and Hoag Co., was one of the largest manufacturers of buttons during the late 19th century.