Sanrio was founded in by Shintaro Tsuji, he was of the first people to discover the appeal of kawaii. The first items he created were rubber sandals with flowers printed on them, he noticed that the cuter his items were, the more popular! Therefore he decided to hire cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise. One of these cartoonists was Yuko Shimizu who designed Hello Kitty, and the first item ever produced was a coin purse which was released in !
The Hello Kitty original coin purse featuring Hello Kitty, a bottle of milk and a fish in a bowl! Hello Kitty's first appearance in the United States was made only two years later in and some became a worldwide phenomenon!
In the beginning, Hello Kitty goods were made for a younger crowd but as she became more popular new products for teenagers and adults were released as well. You can find anything Hello Kitty these days, from stationary and plushies, to suitcases and toasters! Even though Hello Kitty looks like a cat, she is actually a little girl. She was created in Japan but designed to be British because Japanese people were obsessed with foreign countries at that time.
The US was also a popular interest among Japanese people, but since they wanted Hello Kitty to be unique she was made British and her actual full name is Kitty White!
In the story Kitty lives in London together with her twin sister Mimmy and her parents George and Mary. The girl culture movement quickly became intertwined with the concept of kawaii, or cuteness, in Japanese popular culture. The rise of cutesy culture mirrored the changing political and socioeconomic mood in Japan at the time, as the country underwent a profound shift from political idealism to mass-market consumerism.
Perhaps more importantly, the simplicity also speaks to the consumer; for them, the character is a mirror. If they are feeling happy, then Hello Kitty is there to share in happiness with them. Not having a mouth is also an important element of the design and broad appeal. In Hello Kitty, Sanrio has a blank slate that can be adapted to any culture, market or product.
I think Sanrio has always been very creative about how we can make Hello Kitty come to life and how she will be most relevant in different parts of the world. Hello Kitty is, in some ways, contentless, which offers great flexibility in terms of who this is supposed to be, what it is supposed to represent, and especially what it might mean to me: the consumer.
In a sense, there are many, many Hello Kittys out there, each a kind of mirror enabled by its simplicity and abstraction. Indeed, Hello Kitty inspires a certain level of mega-fandom that has seen many individuals procure vast collections, covering themselves and their homes in Hello Kitty merchandise. A year-old woman will have known Hello Kitty her entire life. And the idea that she was created in order to share with others and give a gift is crucial. This allows you to be ahead of the curve and also understand that maybe that curve will come full circle, which happens quite a lot.
Indeed, more and more western companies are scrambling to team up with Sanrio and plaster their products with Hello Kitty branding. In , make-up giant Mac introduced a limited edition Hello Kitty range. Remarkably, such world-domination has been achieved with little advertising; relying instead on word-of-mouth. So, why have we all become such pushovers for the feline? She let's you feel how you feel without forcing you to question why.
Sanrio made its fortune licensing the character to a slew of other businesses that produce merchandise. So successful has Kitty been that she was chosen to be a Japanese diplomatic envoy, the official tourism ambassador to China and Hong Kong, in Out went promoting wabi sabi and tea ceremonies. Older, less cute merchandise, would only remind the Japanese of their hubris and their bubble economy that burst, taking macho hi-tech Japan with it.
Cute is also an important social lubricant in cities where many desperately seek a comfort blanket, a buffer against exceedingly tough urban lifestyles. In Japan, women hold the spending power.
Even for things that women don't purchase themselves, such as a car, they have a strong say in the final decision. Perhaps it is because the western democracies in the past decade have encountered problems similar to those Japan has faced since the 90s: deflation, more work for less pay, an ageing demographic and an unhealthy obsession with youth.
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