Hello Kitty - goes masculine!
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
December 28, 2007 1:30pm CST
My daughter loved the little pink and white Hello Kitty stuff. Now my Grand daughters do - there is even a Hello Kitty store in the mall!! Hello Kitty is for girls. Females. Women. Feminine.
ON the news today I heard they are making Hello Kitty more masculine so that boys/males/men can have Hello Kitty too! They will start making hte kitty face more masculine (didn't say how but I just can't see that cute little white and pink face with beard stubble on it!) and it is targets to boy teens and men in their 20's. And will include, purses, t-shirts and accessories. Comes out in japan next year and follows to USA after.
Why can't they let girls be girls and boys be boys? Why does everything have to be generic, one size fits all, all for one? Some things are fine that way, but girls like things for themselves and boys like their things. To make a masculine Hello Kitty, is like making Pink Tonka trucks!. Things have their speciality, and I think it is pathetic to change them just to fit everyone. Make something similar, but don't change the icons that are stable parts of life. What do you think?
3 people like this
11 responses
@my52cents (569)
• United States
28 Dec 07
Are you serious? Targeting teen and young adult guys with Hello Kitty? That's just downright strange to me. I have two young adult guys. Beard stubble or not (that is a hilarious word picture by the way, coffeebreak) I can't quite, no I can absolutely not imagine that my guys would ever want anything to do with Hello Kitty. In fact, if I tried that next Christmas, my sons would be totally convinced I had lost my mind. I don't have daughters so we've never had Hello Kitty around the house but if we did, it would be pink and feminine and it would be all mine. Yep, let traditional girl stuff be girl stuff and boy stuff be boy stuff.
2 people like this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
I heard it on the news today - ABC said it!!! But yeah, it just isn't something you can expect boys to want to have. I just don't see why they are doing it. And to target teen boys is bad enough, but in their 20's and expect them to want Hello Kitty?!?! You've got to be kidding! If they think they have an audience, you'd think they'd market to toddler boys. Older boys, just don't like white kittys with pink ears, even if they do have beard stubble!
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
28 Dec 07
There are some good gender neutral toys out there. I don't think they need to make Hello Kitty one of them. It has always been geared for the girl market. Seems silly to me. If they want to dabble in the boy toy market, in my opinion they should come out with a totally new character not tweak a staple for the girls. It may come down to dollars and cents. they want more money. I don't think such a toy will be a success. Too many parents view Hello Kitty as a girls only toy. Guess we will see what happens.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
I think the same thing. Some things just can't be tweaked. And I think it will give Hello Kitty a "bad name". Take aways its appeal to the girls. What a shame
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
29 Dec 07
They are trying to make things equal by making everything unis*x.I agree that there are things that are for little girls and thing for little boys.They should be designed that way. But if a little boy wants to play with dolls, that is okay.And if a little girl wants to play with trucks , that's okay too. But to change a toy so the opposite s*x will like it too is wrong.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
Takes the fun out of it! Why does it have to be Unis*x? If a boy wants to play with a girls toy or visa versa, let them! But no need in changeing it to accomodate them. Defeats the purpose! It is no longer unis*x - it is a boys version and a girls version - bye bye Unis*x! moot issue!
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
28 Dec 07
I think that when I was a little girl I would have just LOVED a pink tonka truck. But as they didn't have them, I learned to climb trees instead. So after they start making pink tonka trucks, then they can start messing with the "grrrls's" toys and until then they should freaking leave them alone. LOL. Clearly you have hit a raw nerve here :(
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
Looks like some child had a wonderful time and a lot of fun!!!
@adforme (2114)
•
29 Dec 07
I heard of this and I think it is quite strange. More "masculine"? I guess we have yet to find out what they mean by that. I have enjoyed Hello Kitty since I was a kid. I have had everything from lipgloss, a notepad, a radio, and currently a little key chain on my keys. I think Hello Kitty appeals to everyone just the way she, and I said she is. I hope it is not too late to reconsider the change.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
30 Dec 07
Someone said it would have the Hello Kitty logo as eyes (how masculine is that!) and a blue tie. Says macho to me, what about yoU?
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
30 Dec 07
Then what's the point of the change? If it isn't enough to "matter" why bother? Quite an expensive trip to take over "no big deal". But then if they can afford to take the risk, why not and if it doesn't pan out, they have a great tax write off!
@bushfiredmx (111)
• Philippines
29 Dec 07
Sanrio (makers of Hello Kitty) is probably doing this in order to boost up their sales and it has been a while since they made some toys to target young and old boys in the market. Hello Kitty has been in the market for what? 30 years or so? Its about time they made a move to give boys a new choice of toys to play and cherish. Bottom line is, the toy will get a much more larger audience than it had before should this news be true! If you think about it, it's more of a benefit for Hello Kitty fanatics because they'll see that their favorite Kitty gets more attention (this time from the male half of the population) than it had before.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
I just can't in the farthest corners of my mind see what male population will give this the time of day. Toddler boys might, but not teens and early 20's. And often "more attention" can be a bad thing. Depends on where the attention is coming from - my opinion, it'll be attention like "oh good grief, this is so stupid" and back on the rack it will go!
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
28 Dec 07
I read about this in the news this morning. Sheesh!! How nuts is that? Lol!! I saw a picture of the changes they made to make it 'masculine'...didn't look like anything any male I know would wear. What they changed on the kitty (in the picture I saw): The kitty's bow is now blue, and instead of eyes, it has 'hello kitty'(logo) there instead. If they were going to truly make it more masculine, wouldn't you think they'd give it a tie and lose the bow altogether (or something)? I wonder what creative genius came up with that and thinks it's now more male oriented?!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
They didn't show a picture when I saw it - I just made up the beard stubble illusion. But a beard stubble would be better than a blue bow and logo eyes! Good Grief, how stupid it that! I wonder if Hello Kitty just needs a legal tax loss deductioN! They'll sure get it with this stupidity!
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
29 Dec 07
i totally agree with you... hello kitty is a girl stuff and should not be make to be masculine... i can't imagine boys playing with hello kitty... it will look so girly for me... i don't think the masculine version of the hello kitty will be a success... in fact, i think it will ruin the reputation of the hello kitty... it sounds too weird for me to comprehend...
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
It does sound weird. I mean, what 13 year old boy is going to have something Hello Kitty masculine and tell his friends "Look what I got! Hello Kitty T-shirt!" Add to that a 23 year old young man taking out a girl in his Hello Kitty T-shirt? Yeah, that'll go over real good! Not in this lifetime anyway!
@suzieque (2334)
• Canada
29 Dec 07
Hmmm...Hello Kitty going masculine. I don't know, it might be successful for little boys, but I really don't think teenage boys or older would be into masculine hello kitty. They shouldn't try to tap into the boy's market, hello kitty is just to cute and feminine, and are really for girls.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
That is the majority consenses! Toddler age boys, maybe, but definately not teenage boys and in their 20's. What were they thinking?!?!?
@onecutehoneybear (938)
• United States
29 Dec 07
I think they should leave hello kitty alone. Its definitely for a female and I honestly can't see that many guys in the USA buying hello kitty stuff even if it is more masculine.
There are enough gender neutral toys that Hello Kitty doesn't have to be one of them!!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
There sure are enough gender nutral toys. You don't see them dressing Spider Man in pink leotards, do you!
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
28 Dec 07
I think it's sad that they are going to do that to Hello Kitty! My 40 year old daughter and my granddaughter are both big fans of Hello Kitty and I hate to see that happen. I see no reason to change anything about it or make it generic. Of course this all boils down to money you know that right?
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 07
Welll, I don't know about any other country - but here in the US of A, it isn't going to go over. We'll put up with alot, but something like that - I just dont' think so! My grand daughter loves going to the Hello Kitty store, just like her mommmy did! Now, the girls might like the "male" version, just cause it is differnet and not realize it is for boys, but I can't see to many teens and 20's men visiting the store for themselves!
I wonder if Hello Kitty just needs a tax deduction!
