Avril Lavigne’s latest music video for her single “Hello Kitty” set off a controversial firestorm when the video was released in the United States. "Hello Kitty" received poor reviews and was even pulled down from YouTube for a day before it returned to the site. The negative comments towards the video talked about how disrespectful the video was in regards to Japanese culture but in Japan the video is receiving favorable reactions.
Billboard reported that when the video went live in Japan it logged 12 million views in one week.
Reviews in the United States had not been favorable, some even referred to the video “Japan fetishization” but reporters in Japan understood that the culture and approach to the video could have been misunderstood by other audiences.
Hiro Ugaya, a Tokyo-based journalist and media commentator, commented in a review that Japanese culture is unique and not often fully understood. "I assume that images of cultures outside of one's own in mass media are always different from the reality," he wrote. “When you're trying to reach the majority of consumers, images tend to be lowest common dominator."
Avril Lavigne is currently on tour in South America and will be heading to North America this summer for a joint tour with The Backstreet Boys, Metro reported.
Watch the music video for “Hello Kitty” here: