The “Smiling Sun” logo was designed in 1975 by Anne Lund and Søren Lisberg, then 21-year-old activists within the OOA (Organisationen til Oplysning om Atomkraft = Organisation for Information on Nuclear Power). The intention behind the design was to create a friendly and open-minded logo, expressing a polite but firm “no thanks” in response to the question raised.
From January 1978 until 1980, a small slice of the income from the sale of the Smiling Sunwas being used to serve the movement, by helping to finance WISE. The Smiling Sun was a winner from the start, with badges, stickers, posters, T-shirts selling faster than anyone could have predicted.
It was decided from the start that income from the sale of the emblem should go to the autonomous OOA groups, not to the central OOA office. The badges and stickers were produced centrally, so the price for the groups was low; the money they made by selling them helped finance their activities.
The OOA was determined not to let the Smiling Sun be kidnapped, either by party political groups, or by private business. So it has been registered as a trade mark in Denmark and many other countries.
The Smiling Sun was launched on an international level at the World Congress Against Nuclear Power, in Göteborg (Sweden) in May 1976. By December of that year it was being produced in several foreign languages, and from the start the OOA asked for the same principles to be respected. The Smiling Sun should help all groups in the movement. The next step was a logical one. In September 1977 the OOA, still acting as guardian of the Smiling Sun, agreed to the idea that part of the income from sales should go towards financing a multi-language energy information service. For the first two years, WISE was the main beneficiary.