Hello Kitty is not a cat, her creators remind us of the dark truth 50 years later

This year, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hello Kitty, the character created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974. To celebrate, the gift that the Sanrio company gave to her creation was to remind us of her true identity to the world. Although we all thought she was a kitten (even the name “Kitty” suggests it), nothing could be further from the truth. The company seems to think of her as a real-life Oliver Twist. Notice how they describe her: “She is actually a little girl - born and raised in the suburbs of London.”

The funny thing is that this announcement caught Sanrio’s own employees off guard. Jill Cook, director of retail business development at Sanrio, recalled that when she wrote a brief description of the character as a cat while preparing for a 50th anniversary exhibition, she soon received a message from her bosses clarifying the situation. “They were very firm. They told me it wasn’t a cat, it was a cartoon character. Hello Kitty is a girl, she is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never shown on all fours. She walks and sits like a biped. She does have her own pet cat, though, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”

“Born and raised in the suburbs of London, she has a mom, and dad, and a twin sister Mimmy, who is also her best friend. She enjoys baking cookies and making new friends. She weighs three apples and she’s five apples tall. Her world is large. She has her own pet, Charmmy Kitty, a boyfriend named Dear Daniel, and hundreds of friends.”

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