The United States has Michael Jordan. Canada has Wayne Gretzky. Brazil has Pele. But what about Japan? Japan has an adorable little white cat named Harro Kitei (Hello Kitty).
For some reason in North America, we don't find it strange to see Michael Jordan, the retired professional basketball player, on TV telling us what brand of batteries to use, or how Wayne Gretzky, the Great One of hockey, knows so damn much about winterizing gasoline. In Japan, things are a little different. Tiger Woods endorses Wanda Coffee by losing to a Japanese golfer on a TV commercial. Bruce Willis' face is featured on cold drink vending machines, even though I don't ever remember seeing him ever drink a can of Pocari Sweat. But not even these two media moguls are any match for the corporate colossus known as Hello Kitty.
Unlike Western advertising, which uses celebrities to endorse a product. In Hello Kitty's case, the products endorse her. She doesn't recommend any particular brand or service, rather a company will plaster her mouthless face all over their un-named product, turning them into Hello Kitty vehicles.
In my experiences in Japan, I've seen Hello Kitty on a number of products, including wall clocks, make-up kits and school bags. Now, that may not seem so strange, you may be thinking. These are probably products for pre-teen girls. That's what I thought, although the two brands of toilet paper boasting Hello Kitty 1974 Design and Hello Kitty 1976 Design did start me wondering. What else does this cat have her name attached to? So I did a little research on the Internet.
This website offers photos of some of the most unlikely products on which you would expect to see Hello Kitty's blank expression. These are hardly products for young girls. These products range from the Mira automobile to prosthodontics (false teeth), vacuum cleaners to luggage. Personally I would want my ten-year-old staying away from Hello Kitty brand diet pills.
Created in 1974 by the Sanrio company, Hello Kitty started a modest career as a cartoon character on a popular children's show. Since then, she has been adopted in dozens of countries, being picking up by local companies along the way. On Sanrio's Frequently Asked Questions list, I found this:
Why doesn't Hello Kitty have a mouth?
Hello Kitty speaks from her heart. She is Sanrio's ambassador to the world who isn't bound to one certain language.
Pretty slick, eh? What company wouldn't jump all over a celebrity with an international policy of peace and love?
I was about to plaster this page with pictures of Hello Kitty and her merchandise, when I read another question on the FAQ:
Can I use your characters on my homepage?
Our characters are copyrighted and we cannot give permission to use them on personal homepages. We hope to provide artwork of that nature in the future.
A little harsh, considering most people who want to do this are ten-year-old girls and myself.
This is true. Sanrio gave Hello Kitty a family and various species of friends with which to entice Big Business. These include Pochacco the dog, Keroppi the dizzy looking Frog and my personal favorite, Bad Badtz-Maru, the black penguin. He was been described as the Bart Simpson of the Hello Kitty world. Much to the envy of my friends, my dorm room came with a Bad Badtz-Maru coat rack.
The next time you get angry at seeing yet another Orson Wells fishstick commercial, just remember, Hello Kitty is working harder. She's peddling her furry white ass so that grown men can own an autographed Home TV Satellite System. She really does have us in mind, and in that big warm heart of hers.
http://www.sanrio.com/ Home of Hello Kitty and friends.
http://hellokittyworld.tripod.com A Hello Kitty Fan site.
http://www.fortunecity.com/business/ziff/139/products.htm
A collection of the media whore's more bizarre products.