Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ, Harō Kiti), full name "Hello Kitty", is the best-known of many simply drawn fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty can be described as a friendly white kitty with the head larger than her body, small button eyes and nose, but having no mouth.

In 1974, Sanrio Co. Ltd. of Tokyo introduced a Hello Kitty franchise. The first Hello Kitty item was a vinyl coin purse sold in Tokyo, according to Sanrio Inc.'s U.S. marketing director Bill Hensley. In 1976, the franchise was introduced into the United States. Since its beginnings, the Hello Kitty line has developed under licensing arrangements worth more than $1 billion a year in sales. Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers and greeting cards to clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances.

Origination of the main character

Shintaro Tsuji, was once a lonely orphan boy who couldn't make a friend. However, when collection cards came into vogue at his pre-school in rural Yamanashi Prefecture, he finally found common ground with his peers.

It was because of those cards that I was able to make a friend at last. The lesson I learned then has never left me: True happiness comes through friendship. Of course you have to have your health, and after that it might be nice to be wealthy or to be whatever you want, whether it's a politician or a soldier or something else. But for true happiness, you really need to have a good friend.

— Shintaro Tsuji

As an adult, Tsuji wanted to make his living fostering friendship. He decided to create a brand character that could be stuck onto inexpensive products and given away as gifts. But first he needed to create the character. "Dogs actually came in No. 1," he said in explaining the early market research process at Sanrio Company, his Hello Kitty licensing firm.

"Next came cats, white cats. Then it was bears. Then giraffes, lions and various wild animals." In 1960, Tsuji was the only member of his company, so he had to act as his own marketing research division, primarily by showing his son's elementary school classmates pictures in an animal book.

Next I tried fish: no good. Whales and dolphins: there was some interest there, but not that much. Next I tried birds: nothing. Birds didn't do it at all, although I did notice a tiny bit of interest in the owl and the penguin. After that I tried insects: nothing. Butterflies: no good. Bees: no good. Ladybugs: no good.

— Shintaro Tsuji

The study group's first choice was out since the dog market was monopolized by Snoopy. But one day, Tsuji had a Japanese cartoon artist draw a white cat. Because species could not be copyrighted, Tsuji understood that he needed a brand name to identify his cat. After choosing the English word "Kitty," he wanted to emphasize his faith in "social communication," the Sanrio Company motto. "Hi Kitty" was the first choice, but didn't quite click.

The solution became the simple two-word greeting "Hello Kitty" that now resounds the planet over as sales rocket in the rest of Asia, North America, parts of the Arab world and elsewhere. The largely Japanese-based Sanrio claims it appears on 12,000 new products a year. Since its beginnings, Sanrio Co. Ltd. of Tokyo has grown from one employee to hundreds.

Line of other characters

Main article: List of Sanrio characters

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. Hello Kitty is also friends with other famous Sanrio characters, such as Cinnamoroll, Chococat, Badtz Maru and others. Since 2004 she has even had a pet cat of her own called Charmmy Kitty and a pet hamster called Sugar. Charmmy resembles Hello Kitty but has more cat-like features. Charmmy Kitty was given to Hello Kitty by her papa, George White, Mama, Mary White, her twin sister, Mimmy, and her grandparents, Anthony and Margret White.

When Hello Kitty's brother "Dear Fredward Lynn" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Matty Boy and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Television series

File:HelloKittywithwoman.jpg

Hello Kitty being hugged.

Several Hello Kitty animated series targeted towards young children have been produced. In the animated films made by Sanrio from 1977 to 1985, Hello Kitty has made cameo appearances in them (similar to Disney's hidden Mickey techniques).

The earliest Hello Kitty animated series known was the American-animated (co-produced with Japan) Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theatre, which aired throughout 1986. This show, produced by Sanrio in cooperation with DiC Entertainment, parodies various famous fairy tales and blockbuster movies from the period. It was broadcast in the United States on The Family Channel, and a Spanish-dubbed version also aired Saturday mornings on Univision.

On U.S. television, the Japanese anime series Hello Kitty and Friends aired on CBS in 1991, and also ran on Toon Disney. On the show, Kitty is depicted as a little girl who lives with her mother, father, and twin sister Mimmy, who is identical to Kitty but has different colored clothes and wears her bow under the opposite ear. 13 episodes were produced, using animation produced as early as 1991.

On Japanese television, Hello Kitty (and her pals) have starred in at least one anime series of their own. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. This version was released in English in 2000. This version, like "Hello Kitty and Friends", also aired on Toon Disney.

Hello Kitty and friends also appeared in Hello Kitty's Animation Theatre, which had Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters appearing in their versions of different fairy tales. Available in the U.S. from ADV Films (who also own the video/DVD rights to Hello Kitty and Friends & Hello Kitty's Paradise)

In 2006, it was announced Hello Kitty will be appearing in a new Japanese clay-animated series called Hello Kitty's Stump Village from Sanrio. At Anime Expo 2006, Geneon Entertainment announced that Hello Kitty's Stump Village was one of the series it licensed for U.S. release. Volume 1 was released in October, and Volume 2 was released in January and in 2008 Hello Kitty appeared for the first time in a full 3D animation entitled the Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends developed by Sanrio's digital entertainment entity Sanrio Digital.

Cultural references

Hello Kitty is referenced in several television shows, including The Office, The Simpsons, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Futurama, South Park, Grey's Anatomy, Danny Phantom, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Robot Chicken, Will & Grace, Zoey 101, Gilmore Girls, NewsRadio, King of Queens and The Big Bang Theory.

The webcomics The Order of the Stick and Achewood also reference Hello Kitty.

The band Goons of Doom created a song entitled "Hello Kitty", presumably relating to the character. Similarly, the band Awaken mentions Hello Kitty in their song "Beppu Nights". Hello Kitty is also referenced in the Too Short song "Burn Rubber" and the song "Amity" from Elliott Smith's album XO. Dave Navarro performed a reunion concert with The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a homage to Hello Kitty, and played a Hello Kitty guitar given to him by Hello Kitty herself. Singer Lisa Loeb has a Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar, and is featured on the American Sanrio website.

The After Dark screensaver "Hall of Fame", which features several famous After Dark characters portrayed as anime characters, shows an image of Bad Dog that looks like Hello Kitty. Mariah Carey is shown showing off her Hello Kitty themed bathroom on her episode of "MTV Cribs".

Gaia Online features a plushie of a white cat called the KiKi Kitty, as well as a black version called CoCo Kitty, and the game Destroy All Humans! 2 mentions a parody of Hello Kitty called 'Hiya Pussy'.

In Jon Stewart's book America: The Book, a page about Japan labels the Prime Minister and national flower with a Hello Kitty face.

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

The comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm lampooned Hello Kitty in a line of strips from April 7 to April 12, 2008. In this series, Hello Kitty is portrayed as an overexposed celebrity in the mold of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan.

Popularity

Hello Kitty has been marketed in the United States from the beginning and has held the position of U.S. children's ambassador for UNICEF since 1983. The brand rose to greater prominence during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement. New products featuring the character can be found in virtually any American department store and Hello Kitty was once featured in an advertising campaign of the retail chain Target.

Since 2004 the little cat has been featured on a MasterCard debit card from Legend Credit Inc. The card was released to teach young girls how to shop and use a debit card.

Also in 2008 contemporary artists Martin Sastre provoked the encounter of a Hello Kitty Nun and Madonna in London for The Martin Sastre Foundation campaign Adopt a Latin Artist".

Hello Kitty Online

A planned Sanrio themed MMORPG, Hello Kitty Online, is currently in beta testing. The developers are SanrioDigital and [[Typhoon Games. After creating an account, one can make a character and customize them. In addition to fighting monsters and socializing, one can mine for ores, farm, cook, etc. Quests are a part of the game, being able to meet other Sanrio characters as well. Pets and housing have been implemented too. Among the first to play the game have been hard-core World of Warcraft gamers.

External links

• Official Hello Kitty website Template:Ja icon
• - Official English Hello Kitty website