Japan Envy: misdo HELLO KITTY Campaign

I’ll tell you, Japan sure knows how to sell me food. From Rilakkuma Kit Kats to Totoro Cream Puffs, they know exactly how to appeal to my love of cute mascot creatures to ensure I’ll never stop craving their adorable sugary confectionaries. This time, Japan-wide donut chain Mister Donut has teamed up with Hello Kitty to offer the cutest range of donuts in existence:

source

Now, maybe I’m easily amused, but I really do love the simplicity of this campaign – all they’ve done is add a little pink (I assume chocolate) bow to some nicely-colored donuts and it’s instantly recognizable as a tribute to Hello Kitty. According to this article, the cupcake on a stick shown above (more colors can be seen if you follow the link) were designed with the Universal Studios Japan ride Hello Kitty’s Cupcake Dream as inspiration and will be available in green apple, strawberry, and orange flavors. There will also be four regular donut varieties, including “green apple whipped cream,” “green apple fashion,” “orange crème fraîche” and”pon de strawberry.” I think the question on everyone’s minds is: What on earth does “green apple fashion” taste like?

I’m most interested in this pon de strawberry! I bet it’s just as tasty as
it looks. 

In addition to these adorable donuts, the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign (that is the official name, capitalization woes and all) will be offering some limited-edition headphone jack accessories for customers who purchase 600 yen (approximately $6.20USD) or more worth of Hello Kitty donuts:

Also available in black, white, and red! (link)

I’ve always thought headphone jack accessories were a bit silly, but I don’t know if I can resist a polka-dotted Hello Kitty bow dipped in chocolate. If I could, I would buy the five or so donuts required to get said accessory, and I would enjoy every minute of eating all five or so donuts by myself. But alas, the campaign runs from April 1st until the end of May, which means I won’t get a chance to try them myself when I go to Japan in June…

So, what do you think? Is the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign a stroke of genius, or just plain weird?

About Anne

Also known as apricotsushi. Anne can be written with the kanji for apricot (杏), and sushi was the most quintessentially Japanese thing I could think of when I was 13, resulting in my goofy, albeit memorable, nickname.

7 thoughts on “Japan Envy: misdo HELLO KITTY Campaign”

  1. Actually, Anne, the question on my mind is: what on earth is up with all of those green apple-favored doughnuts? Yuck!

    That said, I like the general idea of the campaign, and that first doughnut is pretty adorable 🙂

  2. Those look absolutely delicious. Some of the flavors sound a little funky though, haha!
    And that headphone accessory looks completely adorable!

    Michelle

  3. Okay, you’re right, green apple sounds like an awful flavor for a donut!! I’m not even sure I’d like to try orange, either.

    The first donut is probably my favorite, too 🙂 It’s pretty amazing to me that such a simple idea can be so effective!

  4. Haha, yeah, the more I think about it, the more green apple in particular seems like a weird favor for a donut! I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to try it…

  5. As Bryan I hate green apple-taste pastries. The pieces I tried tasted just awful! D:

    And of course this campaign is a bit silly but silly means cute in Japan and cute in Japan meas SUPERCUTE everywhere else in the world. It’s not really surprising to hear about such a campaign because it’s just “japan-ish” (I don’t now if it is legal to use this “word” O__O) enough to be kinda normal.

    As for cute dust-plugs: my mobilephone is decorated with following supercute ribbon plug:

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/Cute-Korea-Rabbit-Ear-Ribbon-Anti-Dust-3-5mm-Ear-Cap-Earphone-Jack-Plug-Stopper-/150844769646?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item231f0c856e

    I got the light blue one 😀

  6. I always like to hear about Japanese confections–in large part because they always seem to include odd tweaks on what would be considered tasty in the US. For instance: orange-flavored doughnuts. Or corn-flavored Kit Kats. That kind of thing. That said, I’d gladly try one of these doughnuts if I were in Japan right now. Who knows, maybe they’d actually taste good?

  7. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a green apple-flavored pastry before, actually! I imagine it’d be a little sour…

    And what a cute plug accessory! There are so many adorable ones available that I don’t think I could ever choose just one >_<

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