The world is a confusing place and a frequently scary one, and what's needed now more than ever are stable sureties and cast-iron guarantees that we can fall back on in turbulent times.
We did not need this.
In honour of Hello Kitty's 50th anniversary – which officially occurs on 1 November – the character's flagship company Sanrio has dropped a bombshell that's leaving everyone purr-plexed.
The popular cartoon character, created by Yuko Shimizu, is apparently not a cat at all.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” asserted Jill Koch, the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management at Sanrio, on NBC's Today Show.
Wait a meowment. If she's not a cat, what is she??
“She's actually a little girl born and raised in the suburbs of London,” continued Koch. “She has a mom and dad and a twin sister Mimmy – who is also her best friend.”
Whiskers, cat ears, and called “Kitty”… But she's not a cat.
Sure.
And no mouth to confirm or deny this news.
How convenient.
It gets weirder, as Hello Kitty – who's actually named Kitty White – weighs “three apples and is five apples tall,” has her own cat named Charmmy Kitty, a boyfriend called Daniel, and hundreds of friends.
“Her core message is friendship, kindness and inclusivity and part of what has helped her transcend borders, languages, cultures is that that's understandable to everyone,” according to Koch.
Cats transcend borders too. Just saying.
Created by Sanrio employee Yuko Shimizu in 1974, Hello Kitty first appeared on a children's coin purse in 1975. In the subsequent decades, the wholesome character has become one of the most recognisable characters in pop culture, with toys, cartoons and clothing generating more than $80 billion to date for Sanrio – and even inspiring a controversial song by Avril Lavigne. The annual retail sales tallied $5 billion last year.
But back to the human revelation…
Fans are not finding the news hiss-terical. One wrote on X: “It's a girl cat and nothing will ever change my mind”, to which another replied: “for my own sanity and childhood i'm sticking to that.”
One user added: “I have never seen a human being with real life whiskers and cat ears. THAT IS A CAT AND I WONT BE GASLIGHTED LIKE THIS!!!”
Clearly, this cat-astrophe is not going down well. However, it's not the first time that Hello Kitty's true identity has been revealed.
Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii, has spent years studying Hello Kitty, and even wrote the book “Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek Across The Pacific”, published by Duke University Press last year. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Kitty scholar unearthed the fact that Hello Kitty was in fact a girl ten years ago.
“She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”
She was also privy to other little-known facts including the fact that she happens to be a Scorpio, with a penchant for apple pie.
Yano added that Kitty's unreadable features (the absence of a mouth, for starters) has helped cultivate the character's following.
“Hello Kitty works and is successful partly because of the blankness of her design,” Yano said. “People see the possibility of a range of expressions. You can give her a guitar, you can put her on stage, you can portray her as is. That blankness gives her an appeal to so many types of people.”
Cats are appealing too.
Just saying.
Additional sources • NBC, Los Angeles Times
