TAIPEI - The Hello Kitty character, a moon-faced cat without a mouth developed
by Japan's Sanrio Co in 1974, has become one of the most popular licensed
characters in the world, appearing on everything from stuffed dolls to credit
cards, refrigerator magnets, phone cards, stationery, mirrors, tissue boxes,
clocks, light-switch covers, coat racks, stamps, handbags, toasters, rice
cookers, furniture, jewelry, Pez dispensers, pencils, every imaginable kind of
clothing, cars (several models available,
including one built by Japan's Mira and, formerly, Daihatsu), and even (rather
notoriously) vibrators. All are extremely collectible, although Sanrio
officially frowns on Hello Kitty speculation.
In October, as the result of a commercial tie-up between Sanrio and Taiwan's
EVA Air, the Hello Kitty characters finally appeared on
an aircraft, an Airbus A330-200 plastered with the characters from nose to
tail, inside and out. And now, because of EVA's participation in the special
cross-Taiwan Strait flights over the Chinese New Year holiday, the Hello Kitty
aircraft (which had only been used for Taipei-Japan routes) will make an
appearance in
Beijing . The first cross-strait flight was set for Friday.
In the third year of direct cross-strait charter flights, EVA Air might be the
most enthusiastic of the six Taiwanese airlines frustrated by the limited
number of flights, after it designated its most symbolic and popular aircraft
to operate the route. "To us, service is the priority," said Johnson Sun,
spokesman of EVA competitor China Airlines, noting his company has had no
intention to adopt any special marketing tactics for the cross-strait flights.
Intending to promote "creativity and innovation", EVA Air introduced the Hello
Kitty aircraft last year after two years of negotiation with Sanrio. The
aircraft now operates daily between Taipei and Fukuoka, Japan. The Hello Kitty
theme is pursued with mind-boggling thoroughness: the airline issues pink Hello
Kitty boarding passes and luggage tags to passengers, and serves Hello Kitty
meals and Hello Kitty duty-free shopping. Even the airsickness bags are Hello
Kitty-themed (bidding starts at US$9.99 on eBay).
EVA's Hello Kitty flights also reflect a global trend in the airline industry
of pursuing similar merchandising tie-ups to add value to the commoditized
business of air travel. Other airlines have also used cartoon characters:
Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) has a Boeing 767-300 with Pokemon characters
and, in Europe, SN Brussels Airlines has two aircraft painted with Asterix and
Obelix.
According to EVA's public relations department, the average passenger occupancy
rate has exceeded 90% since the flights were launched, while the Hello Kitty
accessories have remained at the top of the airline's gift sales category. On a
Hello Kitty online fan club, a writer who called herself Blue Giraffe left a
message about the aircraft: "It is so cute, [I] ought to hijack it someday." On
the same site, many Kitty fans expressed their wish to collect Kitty dining
utensils, playing cards, and hand soap bottles from the aircraft.
According to Sanrio's frighteningly detailed biography of its franchise
character, Hello Kitty's actual name is Kitty White, who was
born to George and Mary White in a traditional suburban London family on
November 1, 1974 (British culture was popular with Japanese schoolgirls at the
time). She has type A-negative blood (reflecting the Japanese obsession with
avoiding "incompatible" blood types in dating - though one would like to ask
how it is a cat could have human blood-type genes). Kitty has never grown up,
as she is always in the third grade of elementary school, and always weighs
three apples.
In Taiwan,
Kitty has historically meant a rapid increase in sales. In the summer of 1999,
Taiwan McDonald's emulated its
Hong Kong counterpart by launching its
first stuffed Hello Kitty doll. The first week's ration of 500,000 dolls was
sold out in four hours. The frenzy continued for more than a month, with the
fast-food company's weekly quota depleted by Monday morning; a total of 2.5
million Hello Kitty dolls were distributed.
Following on the heels of the McDonald's promotion, Makoto Bank, which merged
into the Shinkong Bank this month, launched Hello Kitty credit cards, cash
cards and account books, attracting more than 240,000 account holders and
160,000 credit-card holders. By the end of 1999, Taiwan's Yulon Motor Co
introduced 600 "Hello Kitty" cars based on Nissan's March series, and was
forced to increase the number to 999 to satisfy market demand.
Learning the lessons of 1999, Taiwan's 7-Eleven subsidiary kicked off a
Kitty-fridge-magnet campaign last year, encouraging customers to collect the 31
Kitty refrigerator magnets that they presented to customers after purchases of
more than NT$77 (US$2.50). Within two months, the campaign created some NT$500
million net earnings for Taiwan 7-Eleven.
According to a survey conducted by Taipei-based Eastern Online Co, the majority
of Kitty's fans in Taiwan are 20-to-49-year-old females, and 60% are married,
22% of whom are housewives. The survey also showed that another Japanese
cartoon character, Doraemon, is the only one that could beat Hello Kitty in
Taiwan in terms of popularity.
"We have been used to Kitty's existence," said Ko Yu-fen, professor at Taipei's
Cheng Chi National University, who published a paper "Hello Kitty and Identity
Politics in Taiwan" in October 2000. The paper concluded that Kitty's
popularity was more about consumption than a political indication of Taiwanese'
pursuing a fantasy affiliation with Japan in Taiwan's post-colonial era. She
suggested that the purchasing behavior of a majority of Kitty fans comes from
their inability to afford Kitty products during their childhoods.
Not only merchants appreciate the popularity of Hello Kitty; politicians in
Taiwan have also embraced the concept of the adorable pink-and-white cat. Vice
President Annette Lu has described cross-strait relations as "a cute Kitty cat"
(Taiwan) living next to "a big lion" (mainland China). From Beijing's point of
view, the Kitty flights might be seen to have an unwelcome political undertone,
to the extent that the character's almost terrifying popularity reflects
Taiwan's historic affinity for Japanese culture, a sore subject on the
mainland. On the other hand, Kitty is equally, if not more, popular in Hong
Kong, which Beijing now controls.
Symbolism notwithstanding, cross-strait air links have been burgeoning
recently. The governments of Taiwan and the mainland simultaneously announced
an agreement to kick off the 2006 Lunar New Year charter flights on November
18. The service, according to the agreement, is open to all Taiwanese
residents, as opposed to just mainland-based Taiwanese businessmen in previous
years. A total of 72 round-trip flights will be operated by airlines between
Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan and China's
Shanghai,
Beijing, Guangzhou, and Xiamen from
January 20 to February 13, for a total of 7,700 seats. According to the six
airlines, more than 85% of the 36 flights have been booked, while flights
departing from the mainland prior to the New Year are 100% full.
As a promotional tactic, EVA Air will present Kitty model aircraft to all
passengers on the flights. From a marketing perspective, Sharon Chen, strategy
director at J Walter Thompson Co China, explained, "Hello Kitty means classic
and eternal value. Other things will come and go, but Hello Kitty will stay."
Ting-I Tsai is a Taipei-based freelance writer.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
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on
an aircraft, an Airbus A330-200 plastered with the characters from nose to
tail, inside and out. And now, because of EVA's participation in the special
cross-Taiwan Strait flights over the Chinese New Year holiday, the Hello Kitty
aircraft (which had only been used for Taipei-Japan routes) will make an
appearance in 
was
born to George and Mary White in a traditional suburban London family on
November 1, 1974 (British culture was popular with Japanese schoolgirls at the
time). She has type A-negative blood (reflecting the Japanese obsession with
avoiding "incompatible" blood types in dating - though one would like to ask
how it is a cat could have human blood-type genes). Kitty has never grown up,
as she is always in the third grade of elementary school, and always weighs
three apples.
