This woman allegedly stole the Hello Kitty display at her local McDonald’s. Viewers are conflicted.
Hello Kitty has remained a cultural icon for years, gracing everything from lunchboxes to designer clothes and even adorning a Lady Gaga gown. Customers are even fighting with retail employees over viral Hello Kitty merch, like blankets and cookie jars.
In the last several months there’s been a seemingly sudden resurgence in her popularity that we were unclear about—until now.
It turns out there’s a reason for the sudden Hello Kitty craze.
She’s celebrating her 50th birthday and that means a lot more visibility and collabs that have her gracing everything from McDonald’s items to home decor.
What is the McDonald’s collab with Hello Kitty?
Just last month, McDonald’s dropped a collection of collectible cups that are included in their adult happy meals (technically called Collector’s Meals).
Each cup type has six different collectible designs featuring old and new McDonald’s collabs, and the Hello Kitty one seems to be the most coveted.
Now, they’re featuring an even more Hello Kitty-centric collab that fans are raving over. The Hello Kitty x Yu-Gi-Oh! Happy Meal is a mash-up between Hello Kitty and Yu-Gi-Oh! characters, with those from the Hello Kitty universe seemingly dressed up as characters from the manga series.
After already being available in many parts of the world, the plushies have finally made it to the United States, but the launch hasn’t been without controversy.
Fans have complained that other countries have ten toys while the U.S. only has nine. Plus, the U.S. version comes in bags instead of the classic Happy Meal box, Cincinnatti.com reported.
The small plushies have already made their way to the reseller market, where individual toys are being sold for $6-$12 a pop. Some who’ve managed to collect them all are selling them for $50 a set.
How to get the collection for free
If you don’t quite have the financial resources—or the patience—to collect them all through Happy Meal orders, there’s another (allegedly free) way to do it.
Just be careful how you go about it so you don’t get in trouble.
In a trending video with nearly 150,000 views, TikToker @gzmxok showed herself “stealing” the McDonald’s Hello Kitty display that has all nine of the plushies.
She simply opens the glass case, pulls out the colorful cardboard display, and walks out.
Several commenters were confused about how she was able to open the case, which they say is usually locked at their location. Others were confused about how she didn’t get stopped by an employee.
And some were generally conflicted.
“Bro i was thinking ab this today maybe [I’ll] try when i go back,” a person said.
“You’re too old to be doing all that,” another wrote.
Turns out, she didn’t really steal it.
“I know the store manager, so I had asked her for it & she said first to ask gets it,” @gzmxok clarified in the comments section.
One commenter offered her $50 for it, but @gzmxok said she’d only let it go for $100. She drives a hard bargain.
@gzmxok #foryou #fy #fypシ゚viral #paratii #parati #hellokitty #hellokittymcdonalds ♬ original sound – Dalton Smiley
Who is Hello Kitty really?
Despite her name, Hello Kitty is not a kitty. Shocker, I know.
“So Hello Kitty is not a cat, she’s actually a little girl. Born and raised in the suburbs of London, she has a mom and dad and her twin sister Mimmy who’s also her best friend,” Jill Cook, Director of Retail Business Development at Hello Kitty’s flagship company, Sanrio, told Today.
Ahead of a Hello Kitty museum exhibit, a Sanrio representative also pointed out to the show curator that the cute character is never depicted talking on all fours (like a cat would). Plus, she has a pet cat of her own—Charmmy Kitty.
“So you’re saying if you had a baby and it came out looking like Hello Kitty, you’d think that baby was a human,” Keke Palmer so aptly rebutted in a Saturday Night Live skit.
And get this: Hello Kitty isn’t even her full name. It’s Kitty White.
While she’s been around since 1974, she made her U.S. TV debut a few years later in 1987 on the CBS animated series “Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @gzmxok for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to McDonald’s via email.
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