Consumers still cuddling Hello Kitty

By Robin L. Flanigan
Gannett News Service

The cartoon cat has clawed her way to the top of the merchandising heap since debuting in 1974, leaving her mark on tens of thousands of items. And Sanrio, the Japanese company responsible for the exposure, doesn't plan to let up — it introduces between 250 and 400 new Hello Kitty products every month.

The innocent image of a round-faced white kitten with wide-set eyes, button nose and red bow can be found on stationery, electronics, backpacks, clothing, cosmetics, tattoos, household appliances — even pink muscle massagers, which stopped being made after earning an international reputation as an adult sex toy.

In April, 10 cabs equipped with Hello Kitty umbrellas, ponchos and tissues began prowling the streets of Tokyo. A search for Hello Kitty items brings up more than 8,600 hits on eBay.

Not bad for an old cat who should be long past her nine lives by now.

Fan clubs abound for Hello Kitty, who, the story goes, was born in suburban London and lives there with her parents and twin sister Mimmy. (One of her favorite things to do is eat her sister's cookies and her mother's apple pie, which is odd considering she doesn't have a mouth.)

The feline has an intergenerational following.

"I'll always like her," says Aggie Zhang, 8, a fourth-grader whose collection includes a purse and school supplies. "I don't care how old I am — she's really cute."

Robyn Federman of Brighton, N.Y., scours the Internet for deals on Hello Kitty merchandise from Japan and Canada not sold in this country. She buys for her two daughters, ages 7 and 9, but five minutes into our talk she comes clean: "I have a Hello Kitty nightshirt. I have to confess to owning one."

In an online Fortune Small Business article, consumer trends forecaster Faith Popcorn shares her spin on Hello Kitty's popularity with adult women: "We can wear monochromatic Armani suits and whip out Hello Kitty notepads at a moment's notice. We have hidden facets. We're real."

Singer Lisa Loeb titled her latest CD "Hello Lisa" and put the cat on the cover. Mariah Carey uses a Hello Kitty hair dryer. Christina Aguilera chews Hello Kitty gum.

Meanwhile, don't let the cuteness fool you.

This cat has seen her share of controversy: In 1994, shortly before leaving a job creating window displays at the luxuriously hip Barney New York, artist Tom Sachs created a stir with a nativity scene using Hello Kitty as baby Jesus, Bart Simpson in triplicate as the Magi and popster Madonna — with six breasts — as the Virgin Mary.

"Hello Kitty is an icon that doesn't stand for anything at all," Sachs has been widely quoted as saying. "The branding thing is completely out of control, but it started as nothing and maintains its nothingness."