Hello Kitty, a Global Icon
Pink Globalization by Christine Yano
There have been a lot of books written about Hello Kitty and all have tried to dissect the phenomenon of the little white cat. None came close as this author as she tries to analyze the kawaii culture while integrating with the obsession of Hello Kitty. Without the kawaii culture, Hello Kitty would have never been born.
Next, comes the question: Who is Hello Kitty?
Who is exactly Hello Kitty that can make millions of fans all over the world go crazy? How can a cute little white cat with black whiskers and a red bow on it's left ear have hypnotize the whole world for more than a decade? In simpler terms, Hello Kitty is equivalent to America's Barbie franchise. For one example, Yano tries to examine the phenomenon with the discussion of Hello Kitty's pure image as a long lasting brand. She does this while trying to interweave the "friendship" and "happiness" aspect of Asia's cute culture.
Yano goes into details of "cool" cute and "kitsch" cute factor throughout the book.This may be a sensitive subject for most Hello Kitty fans because this is where the preferences of style that comes into effect. Yano delves into trying to get to the heart of a Hello Kitty fan by including interviews from different types of fans.
So, by the end of the book, was the question of how Hello Kitty became such a phenomenon been finally answered? Honestly, I think Yano did a successful job at incorporating all the business and Japanese (culture) aspects into trying to answer this complicated question that so many people have asked. After reading the entire book, I feel that there isn't a real simple answer that can be explained in one sentence. You're going to have to read the book for yourself to have a better understanding of how everything comes into play for this beloved white cat and her road to global fame.
Without Hello Kitty, Sanrio most likely wouldn't have lasted this long outside of Japan (International fame)
- Junolyn
