Kitty
Power
By: Yuki Allyson Honjo
Hello Kitty will hit
the big 3-0 next year. Let’s face it, she’s not a kitten anymore.
Hello
Kitty, in case you have been living under a rock for the last
few decades, is a small furry cartoon cat with big eyes, an oversized
head, and no mouth. In fact, Japan’s most famous cat is
not even Japanese. According her background story, Kitty
White was born in 1974, in a London suburb. She weighs the
same as “three apples” and lives with her parents George and Mary
White. She has a twin sister Mimmy who wears a blue ribbon
on her right ear; Kitty sports a red ribbon on her left ear.
While
Hello Kitty might evoke notions of girly frivolity, the authors
of Hello Kitty; The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion
Dollar Feline Phenomenon point out that Kitty is big business.
Through her creators at Sanrio Ltd, the cat managed to transform
the fancy goods landscape. She now adorns more than 22,000
products; everything from microwaves to panties. She generates
half of Sanrio’s 1 billion dollars of annual sales and is a true
global brand phenomenon: in 2002, 83% of American 18-23
year olds recognized Kitty. The authors Ken Belson and Brian
Bremner attempt to explain Hello Kitty’s success and impact on
the global zeitgeist.
The
most obvious question is: Why Hello Kitty? While she certainly
is cute, compared to her cartoon peers, she lacks substance.
Snoopy, for example, was driven by the irony and genius in the
comic strips of Charles M. Schulz. Snoopy, Charlie Brown,
and Lucy all have distinct characters and mannerisms—Snoopy has
a rich fantasy life as a World War II ace. Mickey Mouse
was the star of animated shorts and was part of Disney’s multimedia
vision of theme parks, movies, and television.
While
cartoons of Kitty and a Kitty theme park (Sanrio Puroland) do
exist, she is first and foremost a merchandising logo. Few
would recognize her voice or identify any particular character
trait. According to Belson and Bremner, this vagueness was
a deliberate strategy by Sanrio: “This Zen-like technique, intentionally
or not, has allowed Kitty to become at once the princess of purity
to toddlers, a cuddly playmate for young girls, and a walk down
memory lane for adults yearning for another taste of childhood.”
The
initial spark for Kitty was a fortuitous confluence of events
with the “inspiration and perspiration” that underpin every major
invention. Sanrio President Shintaro Tsuji was initially
“noncommittal” about the cat design. A few factors helped: Snoopy
had hit the Japanese market, and economically, Japanese families
were beginning to have disposable income. Tsuji realized
that Kitty goods could be used in what he calls “social communication”
in which small gifts are exchanged as tokens of friendship. But
in the end, “the truth is that the folks at Sanrio, including
President Tsuji and his marketing team, can’t really give you
a comprehensive and credible reason as to why Hello Kitty worked,
when so many of its other characters have faded from the scene.”
But
even if we accept that Hello Kitty is simply one of those memes
that mange to somehow latch on to our collective unconsciousness,
the authors do not adequately explain how Sanrio sustained the
brand for thirty years, aside from legally protecting the image.
The authors provide few metrics on the ebb and flow of Kitty popularity
through the years. What was Sanrio doing to avoid over-production?
What made them retire a character or product? How often
are designs lines changed? How did they choose their product line
up? What kind of Kitty products sold better than others?
What kinds of products failed and why? How much did it cost
Sanrio? What did Kitty brand profit margins look like?
Ironically
enough, in a book essentially about a ubiquitous global brand,
its key weakness is the lack of the brand herself: within the
pages, there is not even a single image of the Kitty logo or of
a Kitty product. While a reader familiar with the product lines
might be able to identify changes in design as the authors explain
them, (such as a key shift in the late 1980s from pink to a more
monochromatic look to capture the teen market), it is difficult
for the non-devotee to understand their significance: pictures
would have easily illustrated their ideas.
While
the book is an entertaining read, it provides mostly background
to the fancy goods phenomenon rather than explaining the care
and maintenance of a mega brand. The book successfully grapples
with the deeper issues of consumerism, “the culture of cute,”
and “anti-Kitty” movements, but it ultimately fails to explain
why Kitty succeeded in the market place of ideas while so many
others did not. In the end, Belson and Bremner have written a
bright, lively, but ultimately fuzzy book, much like its subject
matter. 
