hello kitty....blog 2

I always liked hello kitty as a child. I was never really that feminine or so called girly at all but one thing I did realllllly like was hello kitty because they had yummy gum and cool stationary. I already have a few things like necklaces and alarm clocks that are of hello kitty characters(btw I bought these recently). I went to vacaville today to help my shopaholic friend feel better from her breakup with her bf of two years and for the 50th time ran across the official Sanrio store(home of hello kitty and friends). I walked inside feeling giddy and then realized that I'm not actually supposed to purchase anything due to the assignment and I was....ummm pretty sad..... However i thought about it and realized that I probably shouldn't promote this kind of production as i am unaware of where it comes from and who actually made this product. In the article "Forever in Trouble" it discusses how the garment industry employees are mistreated and how poor their working conditions are. This hello kitty store also mass produces clothing and bags other than trinkets. I was holding a pink rhinestone necklace with the iconic hello kitty face on it and was so eager to take it home but I took a second glance at it and was really torn because it was so pretty and yet it was representative of mistreatment of disadvantaged individuals. I noticed that 50% of the consumers in the store were Caucasian and that struck me because I noticed how much asian culture has influenced the American society as discussed in the article "Asian Fashion Entrepreneurs in London". The author talks about how traditional Indian suits have greatly influenced the London fashion industry, how it is in now even though it was ridiculed before. I remember when it wasn't cool to be asian and even other minorities made fun of "chinky" eyes and our "ridiculous" customs. I remember having to go up against so much discrimination which probably explains why I grew up with so much aggression and pride in my culture from constantly defending it. Anywhoooo, i put the darn necklace down and walked away partially because i was irritated that so many Caucasians were sporting it and I didn't want to promote indifference the world's culminating problems of human expendability. This project is kind of hard for a day to day thing I'll admit. However, I do want to stop human trafficking one day so this is one step towards the betterment of humanity so I guess every little thing helps.