HELLO KITTY

Hello Kitty (Japanese: ハロー・キティ Hepburn: Harō Kiti)^[3] (full name: Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti Howaito))^[2] is a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio, created by Yuko Shimizu and currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi. She is depicted as a female anthropomorphic white Japanese Bobtail cat with a red bow and, notably, no mouth.^[4]

Shortly after her creation in 1974, the Hello Kitty vinyl coin purse was introduced by Sanrio in March 1975. The character was then brought to the United States in 1976.^[5][6] The character is a staple of the kawaii segment of Japanese popular culture.^[7] By 2010, Sanrio had groomed Hello Kitty into a global marketing phenomenon worth $5 billion a year.^[8] By 2014, when Hello Kitty was 40 years old, she was worth about $7 billion a year, all without advertising except on Sanrio's, related show producers', and ticket sales' webpages and at show venues and nearby locations.^[9]

Originally aimed at preadolescent females, Hello Kitty's market has broadened to include adult consumers, being found on a variety of products ranging from school supplies to fashion accessories. Several Hello Kitty TV series, targeted towards children, have been produced. There have been two Sanrio theme parks based on Hello Kitty, Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland.