Source: ComicBook.com
I didn’t like the opening scene. The Introduction was even worse. Instead of the regular opening they disrupted it with Hello Kitty dancing. It just irritated me. Now on to the Hello Kitty history.
Some surprising facts about are that Hello Kitty is not a cat and she is British. Hello Kitty’s real name is Kitty white. Her parents are George and Mary White, her twin sister is Mimi White. She is three apples tall, weighs 3 apples is a Scorpio and her blood type is A. Hello Kitty looks exactly the same now as she did in 1974.
The founder, president and CEO of Sanrio Co., LTD. is Shintaro Tsuji better known today as Papa Tsuji. Hi motto has always been “small gift, big smile” He started with tea cups, slippers and flip flops. Found out that adding a strawberry made the items cuter and more valuable. In 1974 Papa Tsuji and Sanrio designer Yuko Shimizu came out with a coin purse that said Hello! and it had a white kitty on it. Yuko Yamaguchi is known now as Hello Kitty Mama She started at Sanrio in 1978 Head Hello Kitty designer of Sanrio in 1980.
The biggest draw Of Hello Kitty is that she is kawaii which translated means cute. Hello Kitty became a symbol for Asian-Americans. Girls finally had a character. Boys had Bruce Lee, girls had Hello Kitty. Sanrio’s first store in the US was San Jose California in 1976. It wasn’t a hit so they went to selling door to door. It still wasn’t hit with Americans. It worked on Japanese, Chinese and Korean people.
Hello Kitty’s animated series started in 1987 and got a mouth and Mama Kitty didn’t like the mouth and other people didn’t like it. In March of 1999, it was announced that Hello Kitty had a boyfriend. McDonald’s brought out a toy of both Hello Kitty and Daniel. It was so popular that it caused riots. Hello Kitty got a kitty named Charmmy Kitty from her father on her birthday which confused fans because Hello Kitty was a cat but not a cat owning a cat.
Hello Kitty was Papa Tsuji’s most favorite product. He did everything he could to make her a hit. Hello Kitty’s popularity went up and down. Today she is an icon and on everything from toys and clothes to microwaves and beauty products. Do you like Hello Kitty? What is your favorite Hello Kitty product? Let me know in the comments below. Till next week…
