Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harōkiti) is one of the many fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty merchandise is usually bright pink and features the Hello Kitty logo of a small white cartoon cat with a bow on the top of her head. Copyrighted in 1976, Hello Kitty is now a globally known trademark.

Merchandise

Although originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty logo now adorns products from toys, purses, stickers and pen sets to toasters, televisions, clothing, massagers, computer equipment, and more. In fact, it has been speculated that if an item can maintain an image of Hello Kitty, then a Hello Kitty version of that item has been produced. A Hello Kitty anime targeted towards young children has also been produced. The very first product bearing Hello Kitty's image was a small clear vinyl coin purse which sold for 240 yen (today, roughly US$2.27, or €1.77). It is now a phenomenon adorning over 22,000 products and accounting for half of Sanrio's $1 billion yearly revenue. However, Keroppi is rising to the top and is now responsible for over 70% of Sanrio's current profits.

On Japanese television, Hello Kitty (and pals) have starred in at least one anime series of their own. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. It was first released in English in November 2002.

On USA television, the American-produced Hello Kitty and Friends aired 13 episodes on CBS in 1991.

Since 2004 the little cat is also featured on a MasterCard debit card from Legend Credit Inc. The card is supposed to "teach" young girls how to shop. This is the first debit card targeted at young girls.

History

Hello Kitty was originally created by Sanrio designer Ikuko Shimizu in 1974. Shimizu left the company about a year later. The second designer, Setsuko Yonekubo, took over for five years until 1980 when the task was given to Yuko Yamaguchi. who still holds the position.

Hello Kitty was given an English pedigree because British culture was popular with Japanese girls at the time of her creation. Kitty's name came from one of the cats that Alice kept in the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. When Hello Kitty's boyfriend "Dear Daniel" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film, Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Daniel, and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. 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.

International success

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. She really came to her own during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted her as a fashion statement. Now products featuring the character can be found in virtually any American department store. Hello Kitty was once featured in an advertising campaign of the retail chain Target. Many American celebrities have contributed to the character's popularity: Mariah Carey, Cameron Diaz, Heidi Klum, Steven Tyler, Carmen Electra, Mandy Moore, and Nicky Hilton have all been spotted with Hello Kitty goods. Singer Lisa Loeb has admitted to being a fan, and has even dedicated a whole album in homage to Hello Kitty, called Hello Lisa.

Visual style and possible origins

Like most Sanrio characters, Hello Kitty is drawn in a cute style. The official answer from Sanrio as to why Hello Kitty has no mouth (see external links below) is that she speaks from the heart, in no one particular language. Hello Kitty usually wears a bow beneath her left ear but she can often be seen with a five petal flower instead. Rarer variations feature other accessories such as strings of flowers.

There has been some suggestion that Hello Kitty has its origins in Maneki Neko, and that the name Hello Kitty itself is a translation of Maneki Neko, which means beckoning cat in English. It has also been noted that the character shows a resemblance to the character Miffy, designed in 1955 by Dick Bruna and that the line drawing style is not original.

Official profile of Kitty

• Name: Kitty White
• Birthday: November 1, 1974
• Blood type: A (Negative)
• Place of birth: Suburban London
• Height: That of five apples
• Weight: That of three apples
• Good at: Baking cookies
• Favorite food: Apple pie made by Mama (A.K.A. mum or Mary)
• Favorite 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 kitten, good at baking cookies and loves Mama's apple pie. Very close to her twin sister Mimmy.

Electronic games

A list of electronic games where Kitty appears as the main character.

• Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals (Nintendo Gameboy Advance, THQ / Webfoot Technologies)
• Hello Kitty - Roller rescue (Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox)
• Hello Kitty World (Famicom)
• Hello Kitty no Ohanabatake, aka Hello Kitty's Flower Shop (Famicom)

Parodies

• The character Maromi in Paranoia Agent is a pastiche of Hello Kitty.

• A merging of Sanrio characters with the Cthulhu Mythos results in the webcomic, Hello Cthulhu [1]

• On an episode of the TV series The Simpsons, the family travels to Japan and passes by the Hello Kitty merchandise factory. The yowling noises from within suggests that they were made from real cats.

See also

• Sega Dreamcast Hello Kitty
• Keroppi

External links and references

• The Official Hello Kitty Website
• Hello Kitty Has No Mouth, a well-known humor website
• Official profile - in Japanese
• Regional Japanese and Limited Mascots - in Japanese
• Hello Kitty - The Remarkable Story
• Graphs of the presence of hello kitty on the internet since November, 2004
• My Hello Kitty Collection-a large collection of Hello Kitty items
• Hello Kitty Happy Party Pals - official game site

Promotional/Marketing Events

• Crop Circlede:Hello Kitty