Singaporean fans of Hello Kitty raged on the Web yesterday after their frantic attempts to buy limited-edition toys from the McDonald’s Web site failed when overwhelmed servers crashed, in the latest frenzy over the Japanese cat to hit the city-state.
The US fast-food giant was forced to suspend online sales of the plush toys just 80 minutes after their launch on Wednesday, resuming hours later to the chagrin of die-hard collectors.
BUBBLY WORLD
The Hello Kitty Bubbly World Collector’s Set — comprising six versions of the mouthless kitten, dressed as different animals — are making their global debut in Singapore and have been released to mark the 40th anniversary of the iconic character.
A dedicated McDonald’s Web site for sales of the dolls was functioning normally yesterday after the servers were fixed, but many still vented frustrations over problems with completing payment.
DISAPPOINTMENT
“Are you selling Sanrio plush toys, or disappointment?” Jasmine See asked on the McDonald’s Singapore Facebook page, referring to the Tokyo-based company behind the Hello Kitty industry.
“If your servers cannot support such heavy Internet traffic, why start such a marketing strategy?” Desmond Chua asked.
Some Singaporean fans are obsessed with obtaining the entire Hello Kitty collection and will sometimes pay exorbitant prices for secondhand dolls that are sold online.
PRICING
A complete set of the new Bubbly World dolls costs S$80 (US$64) and comes with meal vouchers, as well as a special commemorative certificate.
The toys are to be sold at McDonald’s restaurants across Singapore from Monday.
Bids for a set of the new toys were as high as S$180 on eBay Singapore yesterday.
Hello Kitty, which started in 1974 in Japan as a moon-faced cartoon cat on a coin purse, has developed into a global cultural phenomenon.
Sanrio says it now has about 50,000 different products on sale in 109 nations and territories. In 2008, Japan appointed the character as its goodwill tourism ambassador to China and Hong Kong.
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