Hello Kitty: update 1

As I was researching/thinking about why Hello Kitty is so popular around the world, I realized many has to do with how Sanrio is specifically targeting to different audiences in different countries. For example, the fact that there is hello kitty dressed up in different traditional clothings that represents different countries, people will sense friendliness and be drawn toward a cute cat that is "representing" their country. Thus, I would like to research more on how Sanrio's tactics in trying to globalize hello kitty in specific countries.

As Mizenko Sensei mentioned on my initial blog post about this project, I cannot avoid the cuteness and the innocence that hello kitty portrays in Hello Kitty globalization. In many asian countries, its the cuteness of Hello kitty that is attracting the audience. One image I would like to analyze is a picture of a korean celebrity with hello kitty next to her. She is known as the singer that is the "cute" icon in korea. Why did she specifically chose hello kitty to take her picture? how would her fans in korea react to this image? The cute aspect of Hello Kitty is the greatest feature of Hello Kitty that makes her so popular.

Hello Kitty cafe in Korea

In the book "The Japanification of children's popular culture" by Mark West, it mentions that Hello Kitty was once not popular in America. Interestingly, one of reasons for hello kitty popularity in America is due to increasing popularity for cats as pets in America. This aspect connects hello kitty and America's social/cultural phenomenon. 

 

 

 

I still have a lot of research to do, and I am especially interested in researching about Hello Kitty popularity in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore since there are many political issues that have came up due to hello kitty in these countries.  

Some other sources I have found are:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/arts/design/04shee.html?_r=1

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-05-19/news/17898646_1_visit-japan-campaign-doraemon-anime-ambassador

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/top-cat-how-hello-kitty-conquered-the-world-831522.html

http://www.sommelierindia.com/blog/2009/06/hello_kitty_wine_from_an_itali.html