Hello Kitty goes mobile - but not for kids, apparently
A brand new mobile phone branded with popular children's character Hello Kitty is being launched in the UK - but the marketing company says it is aimed at 30-year-old women, not children."If the market was for 5 to 15-year-olds we wouldn’t have become involved," said Caroline Preston, Sales Director of Comment Retail Service, which is the exclusive licence holder for Britain and Ireland. "There’s definitely a fan base that you associate with youngsters and young teenagers.” She said the phones would appeal to women in their twenties and thirties. "She [Hello Kitty] has grown up and become more urban. The price point and functional-ity is aimed at adults.”
Sue Palmer disagrees. She is the author of Detoxing Childhood and she said it is "very irresponsible" to bring a Hello Kitty phone on to the market. She said, “The Hello Kitty website is aimed at 6 to 7-year-olds. The products are very pink and very attractive to young girls. What they are doing is looking for a new market and this is the thing I find so offensive. They need a new market and they are exploiting children.”
A report in 2005 by Sir William Stewart said that children under 8 should not use mobile phones at all and that 9 to 14-year-olds should make only short, essential phone calls.
The phone costs £310 online.
Disney scrapped plans two years ago for a Mickey Mouse mobile phone service aimed at 8 to 14-year-olds after criticism of the idea.
20th May 2008.
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