Chalk this one up as a huh?
Today via NPR (click on image for the actual audio segment or go here):
We did think about this some more and felt that it missed the marked (and within 5 seconds, someone will tell us that we were “offended”). Here are our reasons:
- Could NPR’s editors taken a moment to at least rethink its headline, especially on the very same day when this tradition is celebrate?
- Umm, the Distroller owner wasn’t the one who said her product line was the “Hello Kitty of Mexico?” That was the NPR reporter who asked. Why did they ask it and what is it in the title of the story? Here’s a better suggestion: “Mexican Woman Makes Millions of La Virgen de Guadalupe: Too Much?”
- Is it us or did this just feel like a free ad for Distroller? Did asking the Catholic Church justify the story? We would think that the story would have been more balanced if there was a stronger voice to counter Distroller’s opinions?
- The story also suggests that this is some wild new craze in Mexico. It’s jus one person, one business. It would have be nice of NPR to offer a more deeper and fuller report about religion and commercialization. Instead, the piece comes across as strange.
But hey, Walmart and the Cartoon Network are interested and someone needs to make money off one of Mexico’s most revered figures, right? That’s all the world needs: a Virgen de la Guadalupe show.
It is stories like these that remind us what happened last year. You know, when the Patron Saint of Mexico was in a bikini.
By the way, we asked our Facebook community about this, and here is what some of them said:
I have some of these charms which are intended for kids. On the reverse of each one is a short prayer .
” virgencita cuida a mi familia ” etc i dont see why who ever wrote that article has to compare it to hello kitty in any way .
And yet nobody in NPR is going to complain when people use Biblical items to help decorate our Christmas tree, spending tens to hundreds of millions of dollars this year. NPR must think they’re clever with their controversial title, but I have one of my own, which will take this over the top, and leave everyone in Latino Rebels’s Facebook page saying “Damn, I can’t believe he said that:” If Mexico’s Patron Saint is also it’s Hello Kitty in Christmas time, then, in that same time period, my title comes into play: Jesus Christ is Christianity’s version of Super Mario.
can see why some parents would appreciate making religion more accessible for children…but isn’t it the responsibility of the parents to make it accessible? I don’t agree with the cartoonization (yep, made that one up) of this religious icon, and I’m not even Catholic.
Now this is offensive LR.
From the offended by all that is offensive.
he fact that the creator of the “hello kitty” virgin signed a deal with Cartoon Network makes me wonder if there’s going to be some sort of cartoon where the virgin has a storyline and other hello kitty type friends…
wtf is your problem. its just a kid’s version of la virgen. of course its comercialized or overcomrcialized. religions icons are, that is why jesus went to the temple and opened a can of whoop ass. also all sacred sites do that.
And this one, by far, is our favorite response:
Mexican Hello Kitty is Mexico’s hello kitty. I got this these earbuds in el DF for 10 pesos. Se macharon los de NPR!
