One of the reasons that I love Mr Happy so much is that he was used as the logo for the Glasgow's Miles Better Campaign in the 1980s. I associate it paricularly strongly with Christmas shopping trips, with my excitement mounting when we passed the banner on the Daily Record building on the way into the city. The campaign ran from 1983-1989, and was one of the most successful city promotions ever - marking Glasgow's transition from the "Mean city" of the 1960s and 1970s to the "City of Culture and Architecture" of the 1990s. In the late 1980s, even the leaders of the national polictical parties jumped on the bandwagon - or more ccurately the bus - appearing in an advertising campaign that featured them and the Mr Happy logo on a London bus.

'Glasgow's Miles Better', Glasgow City Council website

'Glasgow's Miles Better - Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection, Bulletin Photographs,' The Glasgow Story