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[[Category:Comics about cats]]
[[Category:Comics about cats]]
[[Category:2010s webcomics]]
[[Category:2010s webcomics]]
[[Category:2020s webcomics]]
[[Category:Fictional cats]]
[[Category:Fictional cats]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 2010]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 2010]]

Revision as of 15:48, 3 December 2020

Pusheen the cat
First appearance2010
Created byClaire Belton
In-universe information
GenderFemale
RelativesStormy (Little Sister); Pip (Little Brother)

Pusheen is a female cartoon cat who is the subject of comic strips and sticker sets on Facebook, Instagram, iMessage, and other social media platforms. Pusheen was created in 2010 by Claire Belton and Andrew Duff for a comic strip on their website, Everyday Cute. More recently, the Pusheen character has been used in social media posts and on the Pusheen blog.

On the official Pusheen website, Pusheen is described as being a female fictional cat who loves blogging, snacking, and going on adventures. The original comic strip series included characters modeled after Belton, Duff, their dog named Carm (short for “Carmen”), and Pusheen, a chubby grey tabby cat based on Belton's cat that now lives with her parents in Oregon. Pusheen's name stems from the word puisín, which means kitten in Irish. Occasionally, Pusheen and her sister Stormy are drawn in different themes, such as Pusheenosaurus Rex, where Pusheen is a dinosaur and Stormy is in a dinosaur egg. She can also be a Pusheenicorn, Purrmaid, and many other themes. Pusheen has a mom, dad, husband, a sister named Stormy, a brother named Pip, two kids, and an array of furry friends, including Sloth the sloth, Bo the parakeet, and Cheek the hamster.

History

Pusheen first appeared in May 2010 in the comic strip "Pusheen Things" on Claire Belton and Andrew Duff's website, Everyday Cute.[1] In 2011, Belton and Duff launched a spin-off site dedicated to Pusheen. In 2013, Belton published I Am Pusheen The Cat, a collection of comic strips featuring Pusheen.[2]

Pusheen has become well known for appearing in sticker sets on Facebook, which are images that can be attached to personal messages or comments. The feature, including a set of Pusheen stickers, was introduced to Android in April 2013, and added to the main website in July of the same year.[3] In an article for PC Magazine on emoji and unicode, Sascha Segan referred to Pusheen as Facebook's "proprietary emoji", being used as a form of vendor lock-in.[4]

In April 2017, the Pusheen Corporation acquired office space in the Park Ridge suburb of Chicago. The offices are used as a workspace for artists and photographers.[5]

Social media

Pusheen is an example of the popularity of cats on the Internet. An exhibition at the New York City Museum of the Moving Image examined the phenomenon, highlighting Pusheen alongside other celebrity cats such as Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub.[6] The Facebook page for Pusheen has over 9.2 million fans as of February 2019.[7] The brand has expanded with merchandise including an app. Pusheen has expanded and moved beyond just Facebook and now takes part in multiple social media platforms such as: Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. This cartoon cat also has many fan pages within the platforms and blogs[8] dedicated to celebrating the comic. Its popularity has even allowed the Pusheen Corp to create an app that is an expansion of their sticker collection that started on Facebook. Within each social media account that is officially owned by the creators of Pusheen the cat has gained over a million followers and counting. Due to this rise in popularity the company has started releasing GIFs on their website several times a month.

Merchandising

File:Pusheen Merch .jpg
A Hot Topic store filled with Pusheen merchandise

The Pusheen corporation started selling Pusheen merchandise after the popularity of the cat took off in July 2010.[9] The first Pusheen merchandising was sold on the Everyday Cute website as a charm keychain, and necklace. From there, the merchandising expanded. In 2014, Gund developed an interest in the cartoon cat and became the manufacturer for Pusheen's plush toys and blind boxes, which helped the brand take off.[10] Now, Pusheen Corp has teamed up with many brands to create and sell merchandise in stores, including retailer specific items. Pusheen Corp's has many current retailers, including Hot Topic, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Claire's, Petco, Walmart, Target, FYE, and Gund. Pusheen also has a Funko Pop! line that consists of various styles of vinyl figures. Pusheen Corp expanded their merchandising to the website formerly known as Hey Chickadee, which was rebranded as The Pusheen Shop in April 2019.[11] The website features merchandise collections dedicated to the cartoon cat, which includes plush toys, clothing, home decor and various accessories.[12] A quarterly subscription box, called the Pusheen Box, filled with Pusheen Products, is also available.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Comic 1: Pusheen Things". Everyday Cute. May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  2. ^ Glein, Kelsey (2 April 2014). "What's Right Meow: Meet the Internet's Most Famous Kitty, Pusheen the Cat". InStyle. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  3. ^ Wang, Abigail (3 July 2013). "Facebook Stickers Now Available On the Web". PC Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  4. ^ Segan, Sascha (22 May 2015). "Bring On the Emoji". PC Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  5. ^ Johnson, Jennifer. "Pusheen gets green light for office in Uptown Park Ridge". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Cats on the internet to star in New York museum exhibition". The Week. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. ^ Matt Keeley (23 February 2016). "The True History of Pusheen, the Animated GIF Cat That's Taking Over Facebook". Hornet. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Pusheen blog article". MaliNaila. MaliNaila. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Everyday Cute » Blog Archive » The shop is up!". 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  10. ^ "How An Internet Cat Craze Became A Toy Empire". NDTV.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Hey Chickadee is now The Pusheen Shop!". Facebook. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Pusheen Shop". Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  13. ^ "Pusheen Box".
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