Talk:Hello Kitty

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[edit] TV series

HELLOO KITTY!!!!!!!!!!!!! don't forget the Hello Kitty cartoon series that was on in the late 1980s

I added info on one TV series, but not the one from the late 80s that people remember. You can remove it since maybe having half-right information is worse than wrong. I'm hoping it will inspire someone to track down the info for the earlier series.

How relevant is the advertising campaign for Target? If no objections will take out. (Fuzheado 10:17 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)) Ummm... There are no Hello Kitty stores in the U.S so if u want to go 2 one well u better get plane tickets and a passport!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.62.214.219 (talk) 00:56, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Trademark copyrighted?

The trademark was copyrighted? Are you sure? There seems to be some confusion of terms here. Mark Richards 21:40, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Should the link to the alt.sex group be removed

I think it is inappropriate to have the link to the alt.sex newsgroup archive under external links as this adds no value to the history or profile of Hello Kitty as intended by Sanrio. Any thoughts? Perhaps it should go under a different entry to do with 'fetishes'

I don't think so. The group added enormously to the exposure of the brand outside Japan and is an example of the influence the brand has on world culture. User:DavidFarmbrough 08:55 (BST) 10 MAY 2005

Of course, a.s.h-k was not really a sexual discussion group, it was much more of a humour thing. And indeed, it did have a lot to do with exposure in other markets. Nonetheless, it would not be accurate to suggest that Sanrio have seriously tried to cultivate a squeaky clean image. They have, after all, licensed Hello Kitty toilet paper and vibrators, Badtz Maru condoms, and so on. --iMb~Meow 08:11, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Wait just a second... height the same as 5 apples, weight the same as 3 apples.. So Kitty's density is significantly lower than that of an apple? Good lord, that explains all the bouncing.

[edit] popularity in the US

I remember hearing in the news that anything with the Hello Kitty logo on was the most "in" thing in the US during last Christmas season. I think it would be something worth mentioning in the article if anyone can confirm that. Hello Kitty has been popular in Asia for years. Popularity in the US indicates a greater penetration into the world markets. Kowloonese 23:01, August 3, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] but what IS Hello Kitty ???

Hello kitty is the most cutest thing in the world. Wow, now I've read a whole article about Hello Kitty and still don't know what it actually is. Is it originally a comic figure or a cartoon character, or was it from the beginning created with the only purpose of printing it on all kinds of stuff in order to make loads of money? Dantams 16:16, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Kitty was originally simply a merchandising icon. She was first on a coin purse in 1974 and after that a few more items which gained cult popularity and eventually lead to the Kitty we know and love today :) :) Kitty 09:35, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] contradiction?

[Hello Kitty] is now a kein plan adorning over 22,000 products and accounting for half of Sanrio's 
$1 billion yearly revenue. However, Keroppi is rising to the top and is now responsible 
for over 70% of Sanrio's current profits.

This seems like a contradiction to me. --Jsnow 02:08, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

You're right, nice eye. Someone who knows about this should change it. --Tati 22:58, 5 June 2006 (UTC)Wikichik

What about merchandise that contains both Kitty and Keroppi? If that exists, then the figures may not be contradictory. - EmiOfBrie 02:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Theres a difference between revenue and profit, you know. Blackmesa 10:34, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

You know the Kitty is a high maintenance superstar. The cat food bills cut deep into the profit margin. On the other hand, Keroppi catches his own flies. Just kidding! :-) Kowloonese 02:36, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

This could all be cleared up someone could show some official documentation. Where did this information come from?
DesireCampbell 24.222.232.225 21:48, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hello Kitty as merchandise object / popularity in Japan (Omiyage)

In my opinion, the article should emphasize more, that Hello Kitty, as most of the other Sanrio Characters have not been created to be part of a comic story or of an animation movie - as are e.g. Disney Characters -. but mainly for merchandise purpose. The biggest part of Sanrio's revenue comes actually from the licensing fees, because most of those merchandise products are produced by third parties.

Quite an important market for Sanrio's Hello Kitty license is the market for Japanese Souvenirs, the so called Omiyage. Every tourist spot in Japan has it's own local version of Hello Kitty designs. Tokyo alone features dozens of designs, e.g. showing Hello Kitty as a Goth Lolita in Harajuku, as Gogo Dancer in Roppongi or in traditional Kimono in Asakusa. Many other examples can be found on the website of the company that produces those souvenirs: [1]

Other popular characters, such as Doraemon, are also sold in the Japanese souvenir market.

Note also the special status any kind of characters has in the Japanese society. They are not only liked by kids or teenagers, but every social group has its prefered characters.

[edit] Hello Kitty's Diet

Why does she like apple pie? Cats are mostly carnivorous. Cats can't taste sweets,so why does she collect them? Dudtz 3/9/06 8:48 PM EST

You're trying to apply real world mechanics to a stylized
cartoon character. First Rule of Comics: If real world rules
make things less interesting, get rid of them. PratzStrike 13:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Never mind that. How does she eat apple pie, or anything else, with no mouth?

Speaking of real-world rules, how can she be 5-apples-tall and only 3-apples in weight? That would give her a density significantly less than that of an apple... which might explain the light-hearted bouncing gait. Conclusion: anime cats are made of hydrogen.

Height and weight are independent, even in the real world. I'm as tall as a standard 4-drawer file cabinet, yet weigh nothing near that of a fully-filled one. Quidam65 13:32, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

What? no they aren't. Your density should be lower than a metal cabinet filled with .. paper and such... but it's probably got more volume than you anyway. If you place a kitty next to a stack of apples of equal height, there will be an obvious volume discrepancy.. the cat would be a lot bigger, even though the same height. for it to weigh LESS is ridiculous, as vertebrates are more dense than cellulose and sugar. A 5-apple-tall cat should weigh 8-12 pounds!

OMG you guys guess what? Hello Kitty is a CARTOON. Therefore the boundaries of the laws of physics don't apply to her because she isn't real. --DancexwithxmexXx 21:24, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hello Kitty Vibrator

Should this be mentioned in the article? They occasionally show up in Japanese porn and are popular in import businesses. Ace of Sevens 20:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Can you prove that such product is licensed by Sanrio? If it is counterfeit product, you should not mention it in wikipedia. The other night in Jay Leno's show, he showed a picture of Mickey Mouse drinking beer on a product made in China. Should that be mentioned in the Disney article? If someone wear a George Bush mask in a porn film, should that be a topic in Bush's article? I don't think so. Kowloonese 00:28, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at this site: http://www.jmate.com/features/article_3.html, it does appear that Sanrio actually made these, until they got too popular and threatend to ruin Hello Kitty and Sanrio's image. What do you guys think?

It could be a pen that vibrates,or it really is a vibrator for sexual pleasure. Dudtz 11/14/06 10:08 PM ET

The truth is they made a "Hello Kitty" shoulder massager. However people quickly figured out that the form and size of the shoulder massager made it possible to use it for other things than massaging shoulders. Charon X/talk 02:47, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

There was actually an article on this in the NYT the other day: [2]. I think that it's worth noting that, at least in the US context, vibrators are often sold as "massagers" in order to get around laws prohibiting their sale, or in order to reduce embarassment on manifests. But for all I know it's a cultural thing, and in Japan people have massagers and vibrators separately, and never massage their shoulders with their vibrators and never masturbate with their massagers; can anyone comment? The Wednesday Island (talk) 01:35, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I can confirm that they exist. Only a few weeks ago in Tokyo, at a club called Silk, I watched (ok, did more than watched) while a girl masturbated with a Hello Kitty vibrator. It was rather weird!169.253.4.21 (talk) 21:26, 28 December 2007 (UTC)Rodeoguy

[edit] Can I add a link to my Hello Kitty website?

Does anybody mind if I add a link to my website about Hello Kitty? http://www planethellokittycom Planet Hello Kitty]

You already have a similar link: "Hello Kitty Fan - Collection of Hello Kitty pics, wallpapers, and a great Fan Forum". I believe the quality of my site is a lot better than the Hello Kitty Fan website, since I have a lot of articles about Hello Kitty and more resources (wallpapers, etc.).

Both Hello Kitty Fan and my website use Google Ads.

... several weeks later: Nobody seems to complain, so I will add a link. Please send http://www planethellokitty com/feedback contact me] if you think it's a bad idea.

[edit] Need Lockout

This website has been repeatedly vandalized in recent days, especially unauthorized edits in the Hello Kitty Official Profile. Can we place a temporary lock on this until things calm down? Quidam65 13:29, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hello Kitty Haters

I can't belive that some people absolutely despise Hello Kitty! they must be crazy

Quite the contrary, people that only love hello kitty, because she is popular are the crazy ones. It always amuses me how stupid some people are and their motivations for liking something. I neither like nor hate "hello kitty".

[edit] Missing Hello Kitty cultural reference

On the episode "Stocks" of the television sitcom 'NewsRadio', Matthew gives Bill a backpack with Hello Kitty on it when he returns from a trip to Japan.

That entire section needs to be removed. It's gotten to be too trivial. --SeizureDog 13:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Don't think so. The trivial things can always be sorted out. The profile makes little sense so me. --Klappspatier 21:45, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation of "Sanrio"

The article said that "Sanrio" is pronounced "sun-ri-oo". That's certainly contrary to the pronunciation I'd expect from a Japanese name, "san-ri-oh". In other words, pronounced as it looks. The Japanese spelling is サンリオ, which unambiguously matches the "san-ri-oh" pronunciation. So I removed this bit from the article. (Wouldn't such a thing belong at Sanrio instead of here anyway?) - furrykef (Talk at me) 07:50, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spam added

Here. - 152.91.9.144 06:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

History Hello Kitty was given an English name (Kitty White) because British culture was popular with Japanese girls when she was created (though the name is rarely used in popular culture). Kitty's name came from one of the cats that Alice kept in the book Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. When Hello Kitty's boyfriend "Dear Daniel" was created in 1999, designers took his name from the 1971 film, Melody, which starred Mark Lester as a character called Daniel and features songs by the Bee Gees.

Hello Kitty's fictional world includes a whole array of friends and family members. Since 2004 she has even had a pet cat of her own called Charmmy Kitty and a pet hamster called Sugar. Charmmy resembles Hello Kitty but has more cat-like features. Charmmy Kitty was given to Hello Kitty by her father, George White, and Sugar by Dear Daniel.

I HAVE A HUGE OBSESSION WITH HELLO KITTY. =D

OH YEAH ME TOO HIGH FIVE!!!!!! LAWL!!

Though not the editor, I thought it might be best to remove this statement after the second paragraph in history section. Also even though I'm not an account holder, I believe that this page must be lock to only account holder to prevent vandalism. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.207.222.130 (talk) 23:56, 12 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Hello Kitty with a mouth

Do you know that there was once an animated series where Hello Kitty appears with a mouth rather how she normally looks like in merchandise? I think that series has been around since 1994. At this time, it's occaisionally being broadcast in the Philippines during Sundays. 61.9.126.41

[edit] the real show

Hello hell hole kitty was a wiggidy wiggidy coo show my peeps/homeslice/kitty humpers.

all i remember of the show is that they killed their neighbors grandpa in every episode. and that the got high and banged each other. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Uber viking (talk • contribs) 01:11, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] AyuxHK

There should still be the area for Ayumi Hamasaki x Hello Kitty.

It is a pretty big event being the fact Its Ayu, the biggest female and solo artist ever in japan .. and Hello kitty. There is a section on Ayumi Hamasaki's page, if someone wants to put it on here ...

[edit] Hello Kitty's Name

I had no idea about the Kitty White scenario until now. I had previously read and always believed that she was named Hello Kitty because the very first product she was on was a little handbag, with the word "Hello!" above her head; I have never heard of it being a mistranslation. Not that I'm disputing that. Does anyone else know anything about the hangbag scenario as relating to her name? Maybe this should be added as an addendum, since even aside from this theory there seems to be multiple explanations depending on where you look? 69.15.127.225 14:28, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

This reeks of urban legend. The jp.wiki article makes no notice of even a remote connection with maneki neko, and this sounds like somebody just went "omigod, it's Japanese, it's a cat, therefore it must be a maneki neko". I'm taking the mistranslation statement out from here and the maneki neko article until somebody can prove it with a reliable source. (btw, your explanation makes far more sense) TomorrowTime 13:57, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Typo

"mouth less" instead of the correct "mouthless". Wikipedia's hostile protection scheme doesn't want me fixing it. I KNOW! I am a grammar stickler...but it won't let me fix it. Weird. --DancexwithxmexXx 21:28, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cultural References GONE?

why are all of the cultural references gone????

[edit] Miffy inspired by Kitty?

"Some claim that also Miffy, or Nijntje in Dutch, created by the Dutch artist Dick Bruna in 1955, was inspired by Hello Kitty." How could Miffy be inspired by Kitty when Kitty was created in 1974? Dailyenglish 17:12, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can we add an official external link?

Hello. We would like to add the Official Sanriotown webservice to the external links part of the article.

[3] - The official home of Hello Kitty and friends —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hokcuoglu (talk • contribs) 11:55, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

hello kittys gay, kk. errrrbody geta life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.49.245.12 (talk) 00:21, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article is complete bullshit

Hello Kitty actually originates in a very old and well-known myth about a cat who saves a group of people from death. I have no idea how something this important was overlooked. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.116.137.145 (talk) 21:56, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bad Grammar

The last sentence in "History" seems to be ungrammatical.

[edit] DYK?

This article, once cleaned up a bit, could probably quality for a DYK in that Hello Kitty was just named Japan's newest tourism ambassador. Interesting stuff, yeah? Qb | ^{your 2 cents} 15:33, 19 May 2008 (UTC)