Children's Character Hello Kitty teaches Sustainable Development Goals

24 September 2019 by Grace Coleman
blog author

The founder of children’s character Hello Kitty has collaborated with the United Nations to launch a new global video series that promotes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sanrio Co. will help highlight six of the 17 SDGs which will be featured on its #HelloGlobalGoals video series on Hello Kitty’s YouTube channel in both English and Japanese.

The video series, which features six SDGs, was released yesterday, on the first day of the SDG Summit 2019, featuring a conversation between UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and Hello Kitty.

The videos that follow will be released monthly and will feature Good Health and Wellbeing, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action and Life Below Water.

Hello Kitty has been creating videos on her YouTube channel since September last year to explain the 17 Goals to a Japanese audience and highlight the work done in Japan to implement the SDGs.

The UN’s Creative Community Outreach Initiative will develop the scope of the videos, to create SDG-themed content for Hello Kitty fans worldwide, and the character will interact with UN experts and visit UN projects across the globe.

Melissa Fleming, under-secretary-general for Global Communications, United Nations, said: “Hello Kitty is bringing her enormous fanbase to our global efforts to educate young people, in every part of our world, about the Sustainable Development Goals, and why they should be involved in achieving them.”

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by world leaders at the Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. The goals encompass everything from health to gender equality and education and will mobilize worldwide efforts to put an end to all forms of poverty, fight inequalities, protect the environment and tackle climate change.

Hello Kitty, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, has become a global media franchise with a product line of clothing, toys, manga comics, anime series and popular music.

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