14 DAY TRIAL // Avril Lavigne did not think things all the way through when she decided to film her video for the song “Hello Kitty” and give it a Japanese theme. Shortly after the video came online on YouTube yesterday, it was pulled off the site because several fans complained about the message it was sending.
In the video, Avril sang about a happy kitty, about girlie stuff, parties, cupcakes and sleepovers, but the video sent a more disturbing message. As she was clad in colorful and eye-catching clothes, behind her was a pack of straight-faced Asian dancers that moved in sync but didn't have the slightest facial expression, looking as if they were being forced to do their routine.
As the lyrics went “Let's all slumber party / Like a fat kid on a pack of Smarties,” Avril and the dancers swapped decors that ranged from a bedroom, to a candy store and a sushi shop. The Canadian singer was merely trying to honor Japan, which is the only country where her album sales are rising, but she might have banked on the wrong motif.
Press outlets in America labeled the video as horrible and even offensive. USA Today claimed it was “cringeworthy glory,” Billboard called it “an embarrassment to any language,” and Entertainment Weekly wondered out loud if it was “offensive … or offensively obvious.”
Today, anyone who tries to click on the links provided yesterday by media outlets to the video is met with the grim warning that the video has been taken off YouTube, and only screenshots from the clip are left as the sole reminder of Lavigne's attempt at pop music.