Hello Kitty (Japanese: ハローキティ Latin: Harōkiti) is one of the cartoon characters created by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty-related products usually appear in the bright pink image of a white cartoon kitten with a bow on its head. The Hello Kitty trademark was registered in 1976 and is now widely known.
Although Hello Kitty was originally designed for the female market, its products now include toys, wallets, televisions, clothes, massagers, computer hardware and even sexual aids. It is very popular, especially in Asia. Then a Hello Kitty animated image for teenagers was born. The first Hello Kitty image product is a small and exquisite vinyl coin wallet worth 240 yen (equivalent to about 19 yuan, about 75 New Taiwan dollars). It now produces more than 22,000 products and accounts for half of Sanrios' $1 million in annual profits.
In Japan, Hello Kitty has starred in at least one animated series of her own. "Hello Kitty's Paradise" aired for 16 episodes in 1993 and 1994. It was first published in English in November 2002.
This kitten has also appeared on the surface of MasterCard since 2004. This card may be to educate young girls on how to consume. It was the first credit card targeted at young girls.
Hello Kitty was originally designed in 1974 by Sanrio designer Ikko Shimizu. Shimizu left the company about a year later. The second designer, Setsuko Yonekubo, continued to design until 1980 when the task was handed over to Yuko Yamaguchi.
Hello Kitty was given British origin because British culture was very popular with Japanese girls at that time. Kitty's name comes from a cat owned by Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass. Dear Daniel, Kitty's boyfriend, who was created in 1999, was inspired by Melody, a 1971 film in which the Bee Gees participated in the songwriting and starring Mark Lester as Daniel.
The fictional world of Hello Kitty includes a host of friends and family members. Since 2004, she also has a pet cat she calls Charmmy Kitty and a pet hamster named Sugar. Charmmy is very similar to Hello Kitty but more like a cat.
Hello Kitty was brought to the U.S. market from the beginning and has served as UNICEF's U.S. Children's Ambassador since 1983. She really started to become popular in the late 1990s. Nowadays, you can see products with Hello Kitty in any American department store. Hello Kitty has appeared in advertising campaigns for retail chains. Many American celebrities contributed to her popularity: Mariah Carey, Cameron Diaz, Heidi Klum, Stephen Tyler, Carmen Iletra, Mandy Moore and Nicky Hilton All have supported Hello Kitty products. Singer Lisa Loeb is such a fan that she even released an album specifically for Hello Kitty called Hello Lisa.
Like many Sanrio cartoon characters, Hello Kitty is created with a cute approach. The official explanation for why Hello Kitty has no mouth is (see external link below) so that emotional changes can be expressed through other facial changes; however, Kitty's mouth is still drawn in the animation because she needs to eat and speak. Hello Kitty often wears a bow on her left ear, but there is often a five-leaf flower instead, and there are some rare variations such as a bouquet of flowers instead.
Some people think that Hello Kitty comes from the Japanese lucky cat (beckoning cat), and the name Hello Kitty can also be regarded as another English translation of lucky cat, which also means beckoning cat (beckoning cat). cat).
Some people also pointed out that Hello Kitty is very similar to Miffy created by Dick Brunet. Their line outlines are different from ordinary drawing methods.
Hello Kitty official information
Name: Kitty White
Birthday: November 1, 1974
Blood type: A
Birthplace: Suburbs of London
Height: equivalent to 5 apples
Weight: equivalent to 5 apples
Good at: baking cookies
Favorite food: Apple pie made by mom (Mama, mum or Mary)
Favorite word: "Friendship"
Collection: cute Small things, such as: candies, stars, goldfish, etc.
Excellent subjects: English, music and visual arts
Description: A cheerful and warm-hearted kitten who is good at baking Cookies, like mom’s apple pie. Very similar to her twin sister Mimmy.
Reference: Wikipedia
First-generation designer Shimits Yuko
In the autumn of 1974, SANRIO planned to launch a "Petite small wallet". The above pattern hopes to design a brand new character, so this little white cat with a red bow officially appeared.
Second-generation designer Yonekuba Setsuko
After taking over the original design concept and accepting the opinion that "this will definitely be cuter", he decided to Using this famous side-sitting posture, she applied it to this wallet. It became very popular after it was launched, and other products were quickly launched one after another, further strengthening the momentum of Hello Kitty.
Kitty, who was born in 1974, has an oval face, her chin is not round, her ears are pointed, and her beard is relatively long.
The first appearance was on the poster on the inside page of the Strawberry News in the thirteenth issue (November 1, 1975), and of course this day became Kitty’s birthday. When Kitty first appeared, she had a small red bow on her head. But in 1994, Kitty made her first breakthrough in styling, changing the red bow on her head into a hibiscus flower. In addition, in terms of color, in order to cater to the "younger" trend of Japanese society, in 1996, the original bright red color was boldly changed to a softer pink Pink Kitty series, in an attempt to make Kitty products acceptable to the general public. To increase Kitty's customer base.
The third generation designer Yamaguchi Yuko (Yamakuchi Yuko)
She made KITTY’s face rounder and gave her a more vivid description of her personality. KITTY seems to have become a living person, like a good friend living beside you and me. Of course, it also established her undefeated status in the SANRIO sister level today.