Disney ( DIS - news - people ) and Sanrio's Hello Kitty.

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We are happy, for example, to have Hello Kitty embroidery lines done in Shantou in China.

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In the U.S., where tastes are different, Hello Kitty can be purple, green or gray.

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That is why you now see Hello Kitty with a rough crayon-like face line.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

As for Hello Kitty, the 25-year-old character may become as durable as Mickey Mouse.

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Instead of thinking about the grim economic situation, you buy a Hello Kitty refrigerator.

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In the Sanrio edition, the photo is decorated with Hello Kitty and other characters.

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"Hello Kitty is a perennial, " says Bangkok-based Dave McCaughan, director of McCann-Erickson Asia-Pacific Consumer Insights.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

"People cared little about the rigid rules for the Hello Kitty look, " she recalls.

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Now, even women in their 20s and 30s, or even older, buy our Hello Kitty items.

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He has a house, a son, a business and even a licence from Hello Kitty.

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These mini-retail sites are crammed with the toys kids love: Lego, Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and more.

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Last year, InStyle magazine ran a picture of supermodel Naomi Campbell with a beaded Hello Kitty bag.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

She came up with a black-and-white Hello Kitty, which was plastered on bags and other teen stuff.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

He should have enough money to play with - provided the Hello Kitty craze does not fade.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

There are even Hello Kitty business ties and Hello Kitty baseball pitching machines in Tokyo and Kobe.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

Sanrio, the Japanese merchandiser he founded in 1960, is responsible for the Hello Kitty fad sweeping Asia.

CNN: A TYCOON AND HIS CAT

Ms. Medek loved pink and Hello Kitty, said her mother's friend, Roxanne Torres.

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D.s in oral care products (the Firefly Hello Kitty toothbrush, anyone?): Dr. Fresh.

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The topic: Playing with a Hello Kitty "bubble gun" that, with the flick of a finger, blows bubbles everywhere.

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Sanrio is riding a renewed consumer love affair with Hello Kitty, which first became a national craze in 1974.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

Aeon Credit Card in Hong Kong introduced a Hello Kitty plastic last year.

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The most popular one, if its Web site is to be believed, is a 2 GB Hello Kitty USB drive.

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He, and his own son after him, may yet find Hello Kitty an enduring icon to cutedom - and riches.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

Women who collected stuffed Hello Kitty toys and gift items in the 1970s and 1980s are reliving their younger days.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

The reason, she told the counselor, was that one of her friends likes princess toys and the other likes Hello Kitty.

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It now enjoys the dubious honor of being the third most knocked-off brand in China, trailing only Disney and Sanrio's Hello Kitty.

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"Nobody reads news reports about the wonderful and pleasant gaming aspects of Hello Kitty Island Adventure or Barbie's Beach Vacation, " said Whittle.

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So Hello Kitty is one of the biggest brands on planet Earth.

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Sanrio Digital, which manages the online expansion of the Sanrio brand, is hoping to do the same for its popular Hello Kitty brand.

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