Selasa, 12 Februari 2013
Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harō Kiti)[3] (full name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti howaito))[2] is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, first designed by Yuko Shimizu. She is portrayed as a female white Japanese bobtail cat with a red bow.[1] 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.[4][5] The character is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture.[6] At age 36 as of 2010, Sanrio has groomed Hello Kitty into a global marketing phenomenon worth $5 billion a year.[7]
Originally aimed at pre-adolescent females, Hello Kitty's market has broadened to include adult consumers. She can be found on a variety of products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories and high-end consumer products. Several Hello Kitty TV series, targeted towards young children, have been produced. Hello Kitty is also the main character at the two Japanese Sanrio theme parks, Harmonyland and the indoor Sanrio Puroland.
Character
Formally in Japanese, "Hello Kitty" refers to the group of related characters, while the main character herself is known as Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti Howaito), or affectionately as Kitty-chan (キティちゃん Kiti-chan). According to the official character profile, she was born in the suburbs of London, England on November 1. Her height is described as five apples and her weight as three apples. She is portrayed as a bright and kind-hearted girl, very close to her twin sister Mimmy. She is good at baking cookies and loves Mama's homemade apple pie. She likes to collect cute things and her favorite subjects in school are English, music and art.[2][8]Hello Kitty is portrayed surrounded by a large family who all go by the last name White. Her twin sister Mimmy is described as "shy and very girly," interested in sewing and dreaming of marriage. While Hello Kitty wears a bow on her left ear, Mimmy wears hers on the right. Their Papa, George, is described as dependable, humorous but also absent-minded. Mama, Mary, is portrayed as a good cook who loves doing housework. Grandpa Anthony likes to tell stories and Grandma Margaret likes sewing.[8] Dear Daniel is Hello Kitty's childhood friend. His character profile describes him as born in London on May 3 with the real name Daniel Starr. He travelled with his parents and was away from Hello Kitty for a long time. He is portrayed as fashionable and sensitive, good at dancing and playing the piano, with an interest in photography and dreams of being a celebrity.[9] Charmmy Kitty is Hello Kitty's pet, a white Persian. She is described as docile, obedient and fond of shiny things. Her necklace holds the key to Hello Kitty's jewellery box.[10] Hello Kitty also has a pet hamster named Sugar, who was a gift from Dear Daniel.[11]
History
Hello Kitty sold well immediately after the 1974 launch, and Sanrio's sales increased seven times up until 1978 when they slumped temporarily.[19][6] New series with Hello Kitty in different themed designs are released regularly, following current trends. Yuko Yamaguchi, the main designer for most of Hello Kitty's history, has said that she is inspired by fashion, movies and TV in creating new designs.[6][19]Hello Kitty was originally marketed only to young girls. In the 1990s the target market for Hello Kitty was broadened to include teens and grown ups as a retro brand.[6][15] Marketed to those who could not get Hello Kitty merchandise as children, or who fondly remembers items they had, Sanrio began selling Hello Kitty branded products like purses and laptops.<` href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty#cite_note-timeyamaguchi-6">[6][15][19] The 1994-1996 Face series was the first to be designed for a more mature appeal.[6]
According to Sanrio, in 1999 Hello Kitty appeared on 12 000 different products yearly.[17] By 2008, Hello Kitty was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion revenue and there were over 50 000 different Hello Kitty branded products in more than 60 countries.[15] Beginning in 2007, following trends in Japan, Sanrio began using darker designs for Hello Kitty with more black and less pink, and pulling away from kawaii styles.[19]
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.[15] Newer products featuring the character can be found in a large variety of American department stores.The Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator of Miffy, has suggested that Hello Kitty is a copy of Miffy (in Dutch: Nijntje), being rendered in a similar style, stating disapprovingly in an interview for the British paper The Daily Telegraph:
- 'That,' he says darkly, 'is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, "No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself".'[37]
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.[40] Dr Sharon Kinsella, a lecturer at Oxford University on Japanese sociology, called the selection of Hello Kitty "a bit farcical;" "as if a dumbed-down cultural icon ... can somehow do something significant to alter the gnarly and difficult state of China-Japan relations."[15]
UNICEF has also awarded Hello Kitty the exclusive title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children.[41][42]
Hello Kitty's popularity began waning in Japan before the year 2000. 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 a 2010 survey, she was in third place behind Anpanman and Pikachu from Pokémon.[19] In 2010, the New York Times described Hello Kitty's characterization as "not compelling enough to draw many fans" and wrote that analysts called the characterization "weak."[19] They also said that Hello Kitty not having a mouth has dampened her success as an animated TV character.[19]
Legacy
In 1999, a brutal murder known as the Hello Kitty murder took place in Hong Kong. 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.[43]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 pink Hello Kitty armbands for several days as penance.[44]
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". It was criticized for its promotional website encouraging users to "shop 'til you drop."[45]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty
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