Warning: Hello Kitty Plays Hardball in Taiwan
Friday March 16, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
The statues of Chiang Kai-shek are falling; the pan-blue dominated Legislative Yuan continues to hold the country's budget hostage, politicians and pundits on both sides of the political fence are arguing who should or should not get the nod for the 2008 presidential elections. Chaos threatens; tempers are short, but amidst all this turmoil, there is one person you don't want to cross, that person is Hello Kitty.
While the rest of the world was worrying over lesser things, a local paper reported how trouble was brewing in Taipei County. The county's lantern festival was sponsored by Sanrio Company and managed by a private public relations firm. All went well until it was suddenly discovered that there was no Hello Kitty lantern for the festival. Horror of horrors, the public was outraged. Heads must roll!
The company that managed the festival and was supposed to provide the mascot lantern apologized to the government. They said that the festival would be held again next year. There would be a Hello Kitty lantern provided.
Taipei County Deputy Commissioner Chen Wei-ren, however, sensed that that was not enough. Perhaps he had had previous experiences with the cat. In the wake of mounting public complaints and fears that the government offices might be stormed, Chen announced the demotion of Huang Li-tzu a senior executive officer of the civil affairs department. The department should take responsibility for the oversight.
Huang's demotion seems to have quelled the crowds. Once again, the public learned that you can accuse or lambaste most anyone on the island, but you don't cross the cat.