The famous character was created in 1974 and is celebrating her 50th anniversary this year. And only now, the creators of Hello Kitty have made some revelations, stating that she is not a cat and that, in fact, she has a cat of her own. And a boyfriend too.
The world is a confusing and often scary place, and what is needed now, more than ever, are stable certainties and ironclad guarantees to rely on in turbulent times.
So, we didn’t need this.
In honor of Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary – which officially occurs on November 1 – Sanrio, the main company behind the character, dropped a bombshell that has left everyone dumbfounded.
The popular cartoon character, created by Yuko Shimizu, apparently is not a cat.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” said Jill Koch, senior vice president of marketing and brand management at Sanrio, on NBC’s Today Show.
But hold on. If she’s not a cat, then what is she?
“In fact, she is a girl born and raised in the suburbs of London,” continued Koch. “She has a mom and a dad and a twin sister, Mimmy, who is also her best friend.”
Whiskers, cat ears, and her name is “Kitty”… But she’s not a cat.
And no mouth to confirm or deny this news.
How convenient.
Hello Kitty – whose real name is Kitty White – weighs “three apples and is five apples tall,” has her own cat named Charmmy Kitty, a boyfriend named Daniel, and hundreds of friends.
“Her main message is friendship, kindness, and inclusion, and part of what has helped her transcend borders, languages, and cultures is the fact that she is relatable to everyone,” according to Koch.
Created by Yuko Shimizu, an employee of Sanrio, in 1974, Hello Kitty first appeared on a children’s coin purse. In the following decades, the character became one of the most recognized in pop culture, with toys, cartoons, and clothing that have generated over $80 billion to date for Sanrio – and even inspired a controversial song by Avril Lavigne. Retail sales hit $5 billion last year.
But back to the human revelation…
Fans are not buying it. One wrote on X: “She’s a cat and nothing will change my mind,” to which another replied: “For my mental sanity and childhood, I’m sticking to that.”
ADVERTISEMENTOne user added: “I’ve never seen a human with whiskers and cat ears in real life. THIS IS A CAT AND I WON’T BE FOOLED THIS WAY!!!”
Clearly, this revelation is not going down well. However, it’s not the first time Hello Kitty’s true identity has been revealed.
Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist at the University of Hawaii, has spent years studying Hello Kitty and even wrote the book “Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across The Pacific,” published by Duke University Press last year. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Kitty scholar discovered that Hello Kitty had, in fact, been a girl for over a decade.
“She is never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”
ADVERTISEMENTShe also learned other lesser-known facts, including that she is a Scorpio with a penchant for apple pie.
Yano added that Kitty’s ambiguous features (the absence of a mouth, for starters) helped cultivate her following.
“Hello Kitty works and is successful, in part, because her design is ambiguous,” Yano stated. “People see the possibility of a range of expressions. We can give her a guitar, we can put her on stage, we can portray her as she is. That simplicity gives her a special appeal. That simplicity appeals to so many types of people.”