Pico Rivera, CA — Aurora World has partnered with the universally known brand SmileyWorld®, where Aurora will produce and distribute SmileyWorld® plush products with their famous emoticons. Into 2024, Aurora will be introducing a full line of exciting plush products incorporating the SmileyWorld® emoticons, designed to express your emotions and embrace happiness in an even more lovable and endearing fashion.”

“Aurora is delighted to be partnering with SmileyWorld® to introduce both young and young-at-heart to the company that started the wave of emoticons,” said Michael Kessler, Aurora World’s Sr. V.P. of Sales & Marketing. “Aurora is proud to introduce another highly recognizable license to our plush family. We are eager to bring SmileyWorld® to life through the quality, lovable plush products Aurora is globally known for.”

Trademarked in 1972, Smiley® has been spreading joy and optimism to many throughout the world, and with the rise of the digital age has maintained their image as the symbol of happiness. As a global plush toy and character company, Aurora World takes pride in providing people of all ages with the joy and comfort that stuffed animals can provide. Together with this collaboration, SmileyWorld® and Aurora’s values resonate with each other, and this announcement builds excitement for the upcoming SmileyWorld® plush collection for 2024.

About Aurora World Inc.
Established in 1981, Aurora World is a global leader in plush toys and high-quality gift products, and a respected leader in the character and content industry. Aurora World offers an extensive range of branded and licensed plush products for children and adults. The company sells its product lines via a wide variety of retailers, including major hospitals, department stores, and high-end toy and gift stores. Aurora World is known in the industry for its incredibly high quality, fun, and attractive products. At Aurora World, we are saving over 400,000,000 plastic bottles globally, contributing to a greener world by producing all of our plush using eco-friendly materials. In addition, Aurora owns its manufacturing facilities and prides itself on its expansive distribution resources and in-house research and development teams. For more information, please visit: www.auroragift.com

About Smiley®
Smiley® has been spreading joy and optimism to generations since French journalist Franklin Loufrani created the trademarked brand in 1972. Originally a gesture to urge readers of the newspaper FranceSoir to ‘Take the Time to Smile’, soon this ubiquitous symbol of happiness became the most recognised and important in graphic design.

In 1996 Nicolas Loufrani, son of Franklin, took over the helm, steering Smiley® into the digital revolution. Creating a whole new way of communicating, he added a variety of facial expressions to the original Smiley® – his emoticons are now sent around the world at infinitely.
 Continuing to influence modern culture, Smiley® is one of the world’s top global licensing enterprises collaborating on high-profile activities spanning fashion, art, homeware, food and beverage. Major partnerships include Loewe, Moschino, Raf Simons, Eastpak and LA-based Market, who produce the Market Smiley Baseball – a cultural icon.

Maintaining Smiley’s friendly mantra, Loufrani created Smiley Movement in 2017. The non-profit community works across multimedia platforms aiming to inspire positive change in society addressing urgent societal and environmental problems.

To celebrate 50 years, Smiley® commissioned graffiti artist André Saraiva to reimagine the famous logo; created The Collector’s Edition with 50 streetwear designers; and brought back the original message ‘Take the Time to Smile’ – because what’s more inspiring and universal than a smile?