"I have to have it," says Pattie Dunn as she checks her favorite websites for unique and quirky Hello Kitty merchandise.
At her office on the University of Hawaii campus, where she is the academic adviser for the Asian Studies Program, the 61-year-old Dunn has surrounded herself with some of her finds, like a bubble gum machine, filled with pink and white gumballs, that sits on the floor next to her desk, and one of her favorite purchases, a small "personal massager" on a key chain that is an authorized collaboration by Japanese merchandiser Sanrio and Italian toymaker Rody.
"I like that Hello Kitty is kawaii (‘cute’ in Japanese), but it can be naughty, like this toy," she said. "I know it’s ridiculous for a grown woman like myself to have the bubble gum machine, the Hello Kitty toaster that doesn’t work now, the minifridge and the cookware. And my grown sons draw the line at me getting a Hello Kitty bath mat and shower curtain for our home."
Dunn’s giddy enthusiasm for the white kitty with button eyes, no mouth and a big red bow is evidence of the Japanese brand’s cross-generational appeal, which has resulted in an estimated $5 billion in annual sales of toys, eyeglasses, luggage, jewelry, home decor, string bikinis, electronics accessories and just about every other consumer product imaginable. (Earlier this month a Los Angeles Dodgers game sold out after a promotional giveaway of 50,000 Hello Kitty fleece blankets was announced.)
The global Hello Kitty marketing juggernaut is the subject of UH anthropology professor Christine Yano’s new book, "Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific" (Duke University Press, $24.95).
Yano doesn’t consider herself a Hello Kitty aficionado like Dunn, but as an academic she is intrigued by the marketing phenomenon that reached the U.S. in 1976, two years after the character was added to Sanrio’s product line.
Hawaii’s introduction to Hello Kitty was largely through the school supplies and other merchandise for young girls sold at retailers such as Liberty House.
Yano, who has taught Japanese pop culture at UH since 1977, was taken by the richness of the whole Hello Kitty concept and Sanrio’s marketing acumen, as well as the enthusiasm of fans like Dunn.
"It’s truly a global phenomenon. Hello Kitty can get you from either the top down (as an adult) or the bottom up (as a child)," she said.
The expressionless character is something of a Rorschach test, evoking innocence, sexiness, irony, sophistication, nostalgia and pure happiness, depending on the beholder.
Dunn says she can’t resist Hello Kitty’s cuteness.
"It brings me a little joy, a little bubble, a spark, and it helps make people laugh," she said.
And Yano points out that Hello Kitty isn’t just about child’s play or kitschy knickknacks. "A lot of artists have gotten their work showcased through Sanrio’s invitation," she said, and the character has inspired countless other creative endeavors.
One example is the 21-foot Hello Kitty sculpture by artist Tom Sachs, installed at the 53rd Street plaza in New York City in 2008, that appears on the cover of Yano’s book. Even though Sachs’ artwork was not authorized by Sanrio, Yano said the corporation "understands the wide range of creative expression that can come from the Hello Kitty icon. As protective as Sanrio is of the brand, the corporation does go out on a limb on occasion. And besides, it creates a good publicity buzz around it."
BESIDES collectors, Yano interviewed Sanrio officials in Tokyo and South San Francisco for "Pink Globalization."
"I feel Sanrio has a different attitude toward commerce. Hello Kitty is relevant to both children and adults, which is marketing genius," she said.
The Hello Kitty brand is so fluid and ubiquitous that a wide variety of corporations have collaborated with Sanrio, such as Sephora, Vans, Swarovski, Kidrobot, Dr. Martens and McDonald’s.
Hello Kitty is available in more than 12,000 retail locations in the U.S., from large national chains to specialty stores. There are also more than 500 Sanrio mall boutiques, like the ones at Ala Moana Center and Pearlridge that Catherine Chow oversees as general manager.
Smaller Sanrio store openings in malls during the 1990s preceded "the huge spike of the popularity of Hello Kitty that exploded in the early 2000s," Chow said.
The Ala Moana store specializes in carrying "more exclusive merchandise directly imported from Japan," she said, as well as Hawaii-themed Hello Kitty items aimed at visitors who are either collectors or looking for gifts to take back to Japan.
"Hawaii represents one of the more diverse markets for Sanrio, as there is a large Asian-American population here and the state has close ties to Japan," she said.
Chow figures the store’s clientele is 40 percent tourists and 60 percent local.
"Here at the Ala Moana store, we tend to have very sophisticated Hello Kitty shoppers, so there’s more upscale merchandise," such as jewelry designed by Kimora Lee Simmons and an array of high-fashion bags ranging from $200 to $1,000.
