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szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen
Hello Kitty at 40: How she conquered the world
     2014-August-26  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    As the feline turns 40, she’s more powerful than ever.

    Now, Hello Kitty appears on over 50,000 products that are sold in more than 70 countries and is a brand worth US$7 billion. The company that holds the copyright, Sanrio, makes around US$759 million in annual revenue off the cat alone. So, why have we all become such pushovers for the feline?

    “Kitty’s appeal is that she’s an emotional blank slate. As one of her designers told me: ‘Kitty feels like you do,’” explained Roland Nozomu Kelts, the author of “Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.”

    “Hello Kitty represents the deep desire among all people, regardless of nationality or race, to feel joy and happiness, without having to qualify it at any deep intellectual level,” Sanrio’s public relations manager Kazuo Tohmatsu said. “Hello Kitty doesn’t judge. She let’s you feel how you feel without forcing you to question why.”

    But why has Hello Kitty made such a foothold in Europe and the United States? Perhaps it is because the Western democracies in the past decade have encountered problems similar to those Japan has faced since the 1990s: deflation, more work for less pay, an ageing demographic and an unhealthy obsession with youth. Even the once hard-bitten British are falling for Hello Kitty and Osaka-based musician and cultural commentator Nick Currie thinks he knows why.

    “Hello Kitty symbolizes some essential Japanese virtues: agreeableness, harmony, commerce, cuteness, nature, fertility, affluence and the avoidance of aggression,” he says. “She [also] represents the irresistible idiocy of consumer culture, hardwired to our neurological system. We shop with almost the same reflexes that make us stretch out to stroke a big-eyed, fluffy kitten.” That may be a universal impulse.

Hello Kitty40周年:风靡世界原因何在?

Hello Kitty诞生40周年之际,越发风靡世界。

目前世界上有70多个国家出售5万多种Hello Kitty相关产品,Hello Kitty商标价值已达70亿美元。拥有Hello Kitty版权的三丽鸥会社单凭Hello Kitty年收入已达7.59亿美元。Hello Kitty到底是如何俘获消费者芳心的?

《日本流行文化如何风靡美国》一书的作者日美著作家罗兰·佐佐木望·凯尔特斯说:“Hello Kitty的吸引力在于它是一块情绪诉求的白板。正如其设计者之一所说:‘Hello Kitty表达的是你的情绪。’”

三丽鸥会社公关部经理等松和夫如是说:“Hello Kitty代表所有人群渴望感受乐趣和幸福的深层需求,不分国籍种族,不限智力水平。Hello Kitty不会评头论足,它让你感受当下,而非强迫你去追问原因。”

然而,Hello Kitty为何能在欧洲和美国取得如此稳固的地位?也许正是因为西方民主国家在过去十年中遭遇了与日本90年代以来相似的问题:通货紧缩、工作多薪资低、人口老龄化和青少年颓靡。即便是一度强硬的英国国民也为Hello Kitty倾心,驻大阪音乐家、文化评论员尼克·克里分析其中原因。“Hello Kitty象征着几项日本基本美德:亲善、和谐、商业、可爱、自然、多子、富足和避免侵略。”他说道。

“同时,Hello Kitty也代表盲目冲动的消费文化,人们与生俱来就有这种冲动。几乎出于相同的反射作用,我们购物时都会去拿有着大眼睛、毛茸茸的Hello Kitty。”这也许是普遍的冲动消费。

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【吸引力】

xīyǐnlì

appeal

attractiveness that interests or pleases or stimulates

【评头论足】

píngtóulùnzú

judge

form a critical opinion of

 

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