Asawin NedpogaeoNavinee Rodkaew2022-11-102022-11-102018b203162https://repository.nida.ac.th/handle/662723737/6054Thesis (Ph.D. (Communication Arts and Innovation))--National Institute of Development Administration, 2018The research title of “The Symbolic Alteration of Hello Kitty and its Connotation in Thailand” aims to study 1) the construction of meaning in Hello Kitty through the view of scholars, professionals and experts of Japanese culture in Thailand and 2) to study each element of Hello Kitty under the meaning given by Thai consumers, as well as to find sign factors and meaning that affect product consumption behavior of the consumers.According to research objectives, the research methodology was employed the qualitative research within the framework of theories and concepts related to the analysis, as 1) Semiologies; 2) Cool Japan Strategy; 3) Kawaii Culture; and 4) Related documents and researchAs a way of doing this, I collected data, did textual analysis, and conducted non-participant observation and in-depth interview as tools for data gathering. Finally, the results from all the data were discussed.There are two sample groups in this research. The first group is the sample group for observation. The second sample group was for in-depth interview, which can be divided into two sub-groups. The first sub-group consisted of the key informants who were interviewed about meaning construction. There are two scholars: an expert in culture and management and a scholar in meaning communication, two professionals: art director from an advertising company and character designer, and two experts of Japanese culture in Thailand: they do businesswith Japanese company, graduated from Japan, and are interested in Japanese lifestyle and culture. The second sub-group for in-depth interview on the meaning and purchase behavior consisted of consumers of Hello Kitty products. There were 18 people who were the fans of Hello Kitty and 18 people who were general consumers that dislike or have neutral feeling toward Hello Kitty. The samples were selected by the purposive sampling and the recommendation from consumers.The result of study shows that meaning from Sanrio Japan who is the Hello Kitty’s official sender contain 4 aspects of characteristics are character, design, color, and story. However, after the message has gone through meaning reconstruction by Thai society and culture, only 3 aspects remain 1) the elements of character that remain are cuteness and bow; 2) For colors, it seem to limit that Kitty should have only red and pink; and 3) For design, Kitty is a cat.Moreover, Thai culture also creates differences in the consumption; the consumers do not consume Kitty in the form of products considered as dishonorable or dirty such as such as products that one needs to step on or use in a bathroom.As for the myths of Hello Kitty in Thailand, only 2 signifiers cannot be changed: cuteness and having no mouth.In conclusion, the values of meaning in Hello Kitty from the perspective of research participants as consumers in Thailand consist of 1) Economic value means being able to create income from selling Hello Kitty’s products 2) Admiration means Kitty are varying for each individual 3) Representative of cuteness means Kitty can make happiness and fulfillment 4) Hello Kitty being one’s collection or something to show others 5) Hello Kitty can representing identity such as dividing social class, making one distinct from others or gaining acceptation from peers who also adore Kitty, and; 6) Seeing Kitty as someone they loved or a family member.296 leavesapplication/pdfengThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Symbolic alterationtext--thesis--doctoral thesis10.14457/NIDA.the.2018.88