It has been introduced that Good day Kitty, the lovable cat character created by Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu 50 years in the past, is just not a cat in any respect.
The fiftieth anniversary of the pink-ribboned, mouthless popular culture character's entrance into our lives shall be celebrated on November 1.
Good day Kitty lovers had been shocked when Sanrio's Senior Vice President of Advertising and marketing and Model Administration Jill Koch stated on NBC's Right this moment Present, “Good day Kitty is just not a cat.”
What’s Good day Kitty if not a cat?
Good day Kitty is “really slightly woman who was born and raised within the suburbs of London,” Koch stated, including, “She has a mom, a father and a twin sister, Mimmy, who can also be her greatest pal.”
Kitty White has her personal cat named Charmmy Kitty, who “weighs as a lot as three apples and is as tall as 5 apples,” and a boyfriend named Daniel.
Based on Koch, Good day Kitty's “core message is friendship, kindness and inclusivity. One of many issues that helps it transcend borders, languages and cultures is that it's comprehensible to everybody.”
Created by Sanrio worker Yuko Shimizu in 1974, Good day Kitty first appeared on a youngsters's coin purse in 1975.
Rapidly turning into a enjoyable a part of well-liked tradition, Good day Kitty, her toys, cartoons and clothes have generated greater than $80 billion in income for Sanrio to this point, with retail gross sales reaching $5 billion final yr alone.
It’s identified that the Good day Kitty character additionally impressed Avril Lavigne's controversial tune of the identical title.
Followers had combined reactions to the information, with one X consumer writing: “It's a she-cat and nothing will change my thoughts” whereas one other replied: “I'll proceed to consider it (for my very own sanity and my childhood).”
One other consumer stated: “I've by no means seen a human with actual whiskers and cat ears earlier than. THIS IS A CAT AND I WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED LIKE THIS!!!”
Nonetheless, this isn’t the primary time that Good day Kitty's true id has been revealed.
Based on the Los Angeles Instances, Christine R. Yano, an anthropologist on the College of Hawaii and writer of “Globalizing Pink: Good day Kitty's Stroll Throughout the Pacific,” who has labored on Good day Kitty for years, uncovered the truth that the pop-culture character was a woman a decade in the past.
Based on Yano, Good day Kitty “was by no means depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature.”
Yano additionally included different little-known details about Good day Kitty in her e book, together with that she is “a Scorpio with a keenness for apple pie.”
Yano acknowledged that Good day Kitty's lack of a mouth was a design flaw that “labored and was profitable.”
“You may give him a guitar, you’ll be able to put him on stage, you’ll be able to painting him as he’s. That vacancy provides him a sure attract that enables him to attraction to so many individuals.”