Hello Kitty, is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture. 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 1974 and brought to the United States in 1976. 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 billion annually. Examples of products depicting the character include dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies, dishes and home appliances. 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.
Product Design
Hello Kitty can be found on a variety of consumer products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories. In Japan, Hello Kitty products is the theme of local tourist attractions.
Some of the Hello Kitty products range from rare collectibles to branding every day products such as mineral water, contact lenses, feminine wipes, blood pressure gauges, toilets, rifles, exhaust pipes and tooth caps to name a few.
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. Sanrio and Fender released a series of Hello Kitty guitars (the Hello Kitty Stratocaster), and even a jet airplane (the Hello Kitty Jet).
In Asia, they released limited-edition Hello Kitty credit cards.[not specific enough to verify] As of 2010, Bank of America offers Hello Kitty-themed checking accounts, where the account holder can get cheques and a Visa debit card with Kitty's face on it.
In 2008 Hello Kitty collaboration with Tokidoki.
In 2009, Make-up Art Cosmetics (MAC) approached Sanrio to produce a limited-edition Hello Kitty makeup collection, which has now become an expensive collector's item.
2009 also 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. Hello Kitty coloring books were also on the kid's menu at Yoshinoya Restaurants for a limited time in the United States.
In 2010 Hello Kitty will enter the wine market with a Hello Kitty Wine collection made up of four wines that will be available for purchase online. According to The Daily Update, the idea came to Camomilla S.P.A. It is an Italian company that created the tagline: “Our favorite girl has grown up.” The Hello Kitty wines will come in 4 types: a sparkling Brut rosé, a sparkling “Sweet Pink,” an Angel White and a Devil Red.
Television series
CBS in the United States in 1991. It also ran in reruns on Toon Disney. On the show, Kitty is a little girl living 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 an anime series. Hello Kitty's Paradise ran for 16 episodes between 1993 and 1994. This version was released in English in 2000, and like "Hello Kitty and Friends". 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)
Hello Kitty appeared in a new Japanese clay-animated series called Hello Kitty's Stump Village in 2005. At Anime Expo 2006, Geneon Universal 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. After Geneon withdrew from the US market at the end of 2007, it was later re-licensed by Funimation Entertainment, who will continue to release it in North America. Hello Kitty appeared for the first time in a full 3D animation The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends developed by Sanrio's digital entertainment entity Sanrio Digital.
By 1996, Hello Kitty had already grossed over 20 million dollars throughout Japan. As time progressed, many more Japanese artists exploited this arsenal of business by creating a second type of Hello Kitty featured in Clay. This version was released in English in 2000, and like many episodes in "Hello Kitty and Friends". Hello Kitty and friends also appeared in Hello Kitty's Animation Theatre, which had Hello Kitty buying other Sanrio characters appearing in their versions of different fairy tales. Over all, the Hello Kitty franchise has influenced many individuals to make similar productions.
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 haven't seen a release 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 Boken 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. Hello Kitty is a very popular figure all around the world nowadays. It is highly recognisable and is featured everywhere. Its friends and it are a huge part of the toy industry selling many different articles such as clothing, toys, stationary etc.
Examples of Hello Kitty games include:
Hello Kitty no Hanabatake (1992, NES) - a platformer
Hello Kitty World (1992, Famicom) - a Balloon Fight clone
Hello Kitty's Big Fun Piano (1994, PC) - a piano simulation
Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy (1998, Game Boy Color) - a life simulation/minigame collection
DDR Hello Kitty (1999, Bemani Pocket) - a handheld Hello Kitty game in the Dance Dance Revolution series
The Hello Kitty Simple 1500 series (PlayStation) - a series of specifically low-priced games
Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals (2005, Game Boy Advance) - an action/adventure game
Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (2005, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2) - an action/adventure game
Mainichi Suteki! Hello Kitty no Life Kit (2007, Nintendo DS) - a puzzle game
The Hello Kitty Simple 2000 series (2007, PlayStation 2) - a series of specifically low-priced games
Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams (2008, Nintendo DS) - an adventure game published by Empire Interactive developed by Sanrio Digital. In the game, Hello Kitty moves to the Big City where she meets other Sanrio characters and makes new friends.
Hello Kitty Daily (2008, Nintendo DS) - a PDA application featuring a diary, calendar, alarm clock, money managing system and school planner
Hello Kitty Online (2009, PC) - an online MMORPG developed by Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games. The game allows players to create and customize characters, then use them to battle monsters, socialize with one another, mine for ore, do domestic chores like farming or cooking, and participate in quests.
Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise (2009, iPhone/iPod Touch) - an iPhone game with tilt-based controls
Establishments
There is a themed restaurant named Hello Kitty Sweets in Taipei, Taiwan. The restaurant's decor and many of its dishes are visually patterned after the Hello Kitty character.
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 theming would help ease the stress of childbirth.
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. Newer products featuring the character can be found in a large variety of American department stores.
MasterCard debit cards have featured Hello Kitty as a design since 2004. It was released to teach younger girls how to shop and use a debit card.
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.
UNICEF has also awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children.
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 Pokemon.
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.
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 Hello Kitty armbands for several days as penance.
On the episode "Stocks" of the television sitcom NewsRadio, Matthew gives Bill a backpack with Hello Kitty on it when he returns from a trip to Japan.
In the Homestar Runner Halloween cartoon "Most in the Graveyard", The King of Town dresses up as Hello Kitty for Halloween.
The video game Hello Kitty: Island Adventure is referenced in the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft".
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."
