he’s one of Japan’s best-loved creations, adorning some 50,000 products sold across 130 countries and earning billions of dollars for parent company, Sanrio. But it’s important to note what she’s not: Hello Kitty isn’t a cat, nor is she, in fact, Japanese. She is an anthropomorphic feline-like British girl born in the leafy suburbs of London, according to the official narrative.
She stands as tall as five apples and weighs the equivalent of three. She likes baking cookies, though her favorite food is mama’s apple pie. Not having a mouth, she instead speaks from the heart, with a saccharine catchphrase: “You can never have too many friends!” Making friends has never been a problem for Hello Kitty, for whom 2024 marks half a century as one of the world’s most recognizable cultural icons.
Countless millions have grown up surrounded by Hello Kitty stickers, socks, and pillowcases, while celebrity fans include pop royalty Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga; Katie Perry even sports a , while Avril Lavigne released a (widely panned) homage single titled in 2013. Other admirers are more august; on Tuesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla hosted Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, where the British head of state used his to also “wish a very happy birthday to..
. Hello Kitty!” The breadth and longevity of Hello Kitty’s fandom renders her one of history’s greatest marketing phenomena: a subject not just adored but pawed .