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{{Wikinews|Thai police to wear 'Hello Kitty' armbands as punishment}}
{{Wikinews|Thai police to wear 'Hello Kitty' armbands as punishment}}
* [http://www.sanrio.com/ Official Hello Kitty website]
* [http://www.sanrio.com/ Official Hello Kitty website]
* [http://qtpi1969.net/hellokitty/ Official Hello Kitty Fanlisting]
* [http://qtpi1969.net/hellokitty/ Official Hello Kitty Fanlisting]
* [http://qtpi1969.net/hellokitty/ Official Hello Kitty Fanlisting]
* [http://www.sanriotown.com/main/index.php?lang=us/ Sanriotown]
* [http://www.sanriotown.com/main/index.php?lang=us/ Sanriotown]

Revision as of 07:43, 1 November 2010

Hello Kitty
Sanrio character
Sanrio Shop in Madrid, Spain with the Hello Kitty character outline as the entryway
First appearance1975
Last appearanceOngoing
Created byYuko Shimizu
In-universe information
NicknameKitty White
GenderFemale
NationalityJapanese (original designer)

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ, Harō Kiti)[1] is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. The character is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture.[2] The character is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow. The character's first appearance on an item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in Japan in 1975 and brought to the United States in 1976.[3][4] This debut came under the Sanrio company lineup, where her various products are still developed and sold.

The Hello Kitty trademark has since spread globally and developed licensing arrangements worth more than $1 to $5 billion annually.[5] Although mainly aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty product range goes all the way from purses, stickers and pen sets to toasters, televisions, clothing, massagers, and computer equipment. It has a cult-like following, especially in Asia, where Hello Kitty adorns cars, keychains, purses, bags and many consumer products. A Hello Kitty anime, targeted towards young children, has also been produced; as with Snoopy dog. Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances.[6] Her fame as a recurring Sanrio character has led to the creation of two officially licensed Hello Kitty theme parks, Harmonyland and the indoor Sanrio Puroland.

The character was once featured in an advertising campaign of the retail chain Target.

Character design

A spokesperson for Sanrio says that Hello Kitty is not normally given a mouth because "without the mouth, it is easier for the person looking at Hello Kitty to project their feelings onto the character" and that "the person can be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty."[7] There has been some suggestion that Hello Kitty has its origins in Maneki Neko, and that the name Hello Kitty itself is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, which means beckoning cat in English.

Official character profile

Hello Kitty (TV series)
Hello Kitty in a kimono from Hello Kitty Animation Theater vol.1
ハローキティ
(Harō Kiti)
GenreKodomo manga
  • Name: Kitty White
  • Birthday: November 1, 1974
  • Blood type: A
  • Place of birth: Suburban London
  • Height: That of five apples
  • Weight: That of three apples
  • Good at: Baking cookies
  • Favourite food: Apple pie made by Mama (mum)
  • Favourite word: "Friendship"
  • Collects: Small cute things like sweets, stars, goldfish etc.
  • Best school subjects: English, music and visual arts
  • Description: A bright and kind-hearted girl, good at baking cookies and loves Mama's apple pie. Very close to her twin sister Mimmy.

Products

The Hello Kitty Airbus A330-200.

Hello Kitty can be found on a variety of consumer products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories. These products range from everyday items such to rare collectibles.

Financial products

As of 2010, Bank of America began offering Hello Kitty-themed checking accounts, where the account holder can get cheques and a Visa debit card with Kitty's face on it.[8] MasterCard debit cards have featured Hello Kitty as a design since 2004.[9]

High end products

Sanrio and Fender released a series of Hello Kitty guitars (the Hello Kitty Stratocaster), and even a jet airplane (the Hello Kitty Jet).

2009 marked the collaboration between apparel and accessory brand Stussy and Hello Kitty. Stussy worked with Hello Kitty on collection focusing on the Hello Kitty character with Stussy signature graphics. This collection included T-shirts, keychains, and hoodies.

In 2010, Hello Kitty entered the wine market with collection made up of four wines available for purchase online, continuing an expansion of products targeted at older audiences.[10]

Music

Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World, featuring Hello Kitty-inspired songs performed by a collection of artists, including Keke Palmer and Cori Yarckin.[citation needed]

Hello Kitty was also chosen by AH-Software to become a Vocaloid. The choice was owed to the fact it was their 50th year anniversary.[11]

Video games

Numerous Hello Kitty games have been produced since the release of the first title for NES in 1992; however, the majority of these games were never released outside of Japan. Hello Kitty also has made cameo appearances in games featuring other Sanrio characters, such as the Keroppi game, Kero Kero Keroppi no Bōken Nikki: Nemureru Mori no Keroleen. Special edition consoles such as the Hello Kitty Dreamcast, Hello Kitty Game Boy Pocket, and Hello Kitty Crystal Edition Xbox have also been released exclusively in Japan.

Partial list of Hello Kitty video games

Establishments

There is a themed restaurant named Hello Kitty Sweets in Taipei, Taiwan. The restaurant's decor and many of its dishes are patterned after the Hello Kitty character.[15][16]

In 2008, a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital opened in Yuanlin, Taiwan. Hello Kitty is featured on the receiving blankets, room decor, bed linens, birth certificate covers, and nurses' uniforms. The hospital's owner explained that he hoped that the theme would help ease the stress of childbirth.[17][18]

Reception

The Hello Kitty brand rose to greater prominence during the late 1990s. At that time, several celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, had adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement.[19] Newer products featuring the character can be found in a large variety of American department stores.

In 2004, a Japanese blogger started a discussion on whether Hello Kitty was modeled after Musti, a cartoon character created by Flemish graphic artist Ray Goossens in 1945.[20]

The Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator of Miffy, has suggested that Hello Kitty is a copy of Miffy, being rendered in a similar style, stating disapprovingly in an interview for the British paper The Daily Telegraph:

'That,' he says darkly, 'is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, "No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself.[21]

In May 2008, Japan named Hello Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in both China and Hong Kong, which are two places where the character is exceptionally popular among children and young women. This marked the first time Japan's tourism ministry had appointed a fictional character to the role.[22]

UNICEF has also awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children.[23][24]

Hello Kitty's popularity has been waning in Japan for over a decade. In 2002, Hello Kitty lost her place as the top-grossing character in Japan in the Character Databank popularity chart and has never recovered. In the most recent survey, she is in third place behind Anpanman and Pikachu from Pokémon.[25]

Cultural references

In 1999, in Hong Kong, a brutal murder known as the Hello Kitty murder took place. The popular name of the case derives from the fact that the murderer inserted his victim's head into a Hello Kitty doll after decapitating her.[26]

In an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", the Simpson family travels to Japan where Lisa Simpson sees out of the hotel window looking at the Hello Kitty merchandise factory, where the cats are heard screaming as they are being incinerated.

As of August 2007, Thai police officers who have committed minor transgressions such as showing up late or parking in the wrong place are forced to wear pink Hello Kitty armbands for several days as penance.[27]

During the financial crisis of 2007–2010, a poster of a Hello Kitty pre-paid debit card expanded to roughly 1 meter in length was displayed on the floor of the US Senate by Senator Byron Dorgan as a demonstration of extreme methods used by credit companies to attract "children 10 to 14 years of age". Though not an actual credit card, it was criticized for its promotional website encouraging users to "shop 'til you drop."[28][29]

See also

References

  1. ^ "サンリオキャラクターたちの本名、言えますか？" (in Japanese). 2008-07-11. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
  2. ^ Takagi, Jun (August 21, 2008). "10 Questions for Yuko Yamaguchi". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  3. ^ Dhamija, Tina (April 1, 2003). "Designing an Icon: Hello Kitty Transcends Generational and Cultural Limits". ToyDirectory. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  4. ^ "Hello Kitty celebrates 30". China News Daily. 2005-08-19. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  5. ^ Segers, Rien T. (2008). A New Japan for the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 9780415453110.
  6. ^ Paschal (2003-05-18). "Sanrio's Hula Kitty heads to the beach". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 1998-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ Walker, Rob. Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are. Random House, Inc., 2008. 18. Retrieved from Google Books on August 30, 2010. ISBN 1400063914, 9781400063918.
  8. ^ ""Bank of America's "My Expression Banking" page with the Hello Kitty theme". Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  9. ^ Mayer, Caroline E. (October 3, 2004). "Girls Go From Hello Kitty To Hello Debit Card". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  10. ^ Garcia, Catherine (March 26, 2010). "Please pass the bubbly, Hello Kitty". EW.com.
  11. ^ Fujimoto, Ken (August 16, 2010). "ハローキティといっしょ!×VOCALOID2って何だ!?" (in Japanese). Livedoor. Retrieved August 20, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Hello Kitty's Big Fun Piano". MobyGames. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  13. ^ "Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams". IGN. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  14. ^ "Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise". ZIO Interactive.
  15. ^ Catherine Shu (March 27, 2009). "RESTAURANTS : Hello Kitty Sweets". Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  16. ^ "Hello Kitty Sweets resto in Taipei (Part I)". April 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  17. ^ "Hello baby! Hello Kitty welcomes Taiwan newborns". Reuters. December 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  18. ^ "Taiwan hospital a hit with Hello Kitty fans". The Sydney Morning Herald. January 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  19. ^ Walker, Esther (21 May 2008). "Top cat: how 'Hello Kitty' conquered the world". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ Daily Telegraph, 31 July 2008, Dick Bruna, creator of the Miffy books, talks about his life and work
  22. ^ "Hello Kitty named Japan tourism ambassador". MSNBC. May 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  23. ^ "UNICEF Special Friend of Children". Sanrio. March 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  24. ^ "Hello Kitty marks 30th birthday". The Japan Times Online. June 10, 2004. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  25. ^ Tabuchi, Hiroko (May 14, 2010). "In Search of Adorable, as Hello Kitty Gets Closer to Goodbye". NYTimes.com.
  26. ^ People.com.cn. "People.com.cn." 妙齡女郎慘遭殘酷碎尸 三名疑犯陸續落網. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  27. ^ "Thai cops punished by Hello Kitty". BBC News. 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  28. ^ "Credit card reform bill: Bye-bye to Hello Kitty?". Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  29. ^ "Hello Kitty - Tienda Hello Kitty". Retrieved 2010-05-10.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hello Kitty.
Wikinews has related news:
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