And Pigs Will Fly...

We don’t have any children of either gender and we don’t have any young nieces so on the whole Hello Kitty is something that has given the not-wife and myself a very wide berth. We are aware that Hello Kitty is nauseatingly twee and is aimed at young girls and teens.

However, times must be hard for Sanrio, the company that makes Hello Kitty as they are about to launch a range of T-shirts, bags, watches and other products targeting young men. "Young men these days grew up with character goods," said a spokesman. "That generation feels no embarrassment about wearing Hello Kitty." (I am sure this can be translated as we’re on the skids so we hope to hell boys and idiot students will by our tat too)

The new line goes on sale in Japan next month, and will be sold soon in the US and other Asian nations. If this was not enough Sanrio also recently launched a slightly raunchy range where Hello Kitty displays her knickers (that’s really going to rope in the FHM and Nuts readers.....A bare breasted version that looks like, say, Abi Titmuss might just get those wallets opening.... but I digress).

There are some things on this planet that say “young girl” Perhaps I’m out of touch with trends but there’s no way I could see any pre-teen or teenage boy wanting to get their hands on Hello Kitty.. on the other hand there was a young woman I knew called Kitty....

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Hello Kitty armbands have been used to punish police officers for minor transgressions. The armband is large, bright pink and has a Hello Kitty motif with two hearts embroidered on it. "This is to help build discipline. We should not let small offences go unnoticed," said Police Colonel Pongpat Chayapan "Guilty officers will be made to wear the armbands in the office for a few days, with instructions not to disclose their offences. Let people guess what they have done."