Hello Kitty's Popularity and Its Change of Representation

Since “Hello Kitty” was manufactured in the market in
1974, the manufacturer, Sanrio Co., Ltd. gains high profits not only
Kitty’s products but also Kitty license, which gives us a picture of
Sanrio’s sales strategy in the global market. Kitty’s history, its
products, and Sanrio’s sales strategy are researched in this paper.
Comparing it to American Girl, and focusing on KITTYLAB, a type of
attraction where you can enjoy games with Kitty, and choose its parts
to build your own Kitty, the image of the cultural icon can be altered.

• Miho Tsukamoto

• American Girl
• Change
• Kitty
• Popularity.

[1] Japanese ref.
[2] Sanrio. Web. 28 November 2012.
[3] Ibid. Web. 28 November 2012.
[4] Japanese ref.
[5] Divirgilio, Andrea. “Most Expensive Hello Kitty Items.” Web. 6 July
2011.
[6] McVeigh, Mark. “How Hello Kitty Commodities the Cute, Cool and
Camp.”Journal of Material Culture. 2000. pp.226-7.
[7] Ibid. p. 226.
[8] Ibid. pp. 229-230.
[9] American Girl. Web. 15 September 2011.
[10] Morriss, Andrew. “Selling History with Dolls.” Foundation for Economic
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[11] Japanese ref.
[12] Medina, Veronica. Theorizing American Girl. Columbia: University of
Missouri, 2007. p.1.
[13] Japanese ref.
[14] Japanese ref.
[15] Japanese ref.
[16] Japanese ref.
[17] NHK. “Pursuit! Mystery of Hello Kitty’s Creates a Furor” NHK. 29 May
2012.
[18] Everything Kiss. Web. 23 October 2013.
[19] Sassatelli, Roberta. Consumer Culture. London: Sage, 2007. p.150.
[20] Gad, Thomas, and Annette Rosencrantz. Managing Brand Me. New
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[21] Lury, Celia. Consumer Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011. p.214.