Pusheen

Pusheen is a cartoon cat who is the subject of comic strips, plush toys, vinyl figures, sticker sets, and more on Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, iMessage, YouTube, 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.

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

On the official Pusheen website (Pusheen.com), 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, Illinois. Pusheen's name stems from the word puisín, which means kitten in Irish.[1][2] 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 named Sunflower, a dad named Biscuit, a sister named Stormy, a brother named Pip, and an array of furry friends, including Sloth the sloth, Bo the parakeet, and Cheek the hamster.[3]

History

Pusheen first appeared in May 2010 in the comic strip Pusheen Things on Claire Belton and Andrew Duff's website, Everyday Cute.[4][2] Belton is an illustrator and entrepreneur, best known for creating Pusheen, along with several related cartoon characters.[5] She is president of Pusheen Corp in Chicago, Illinois.[6][7]

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.[8][2] In 2021, Belton published a sequel, The Many Lives of Pusheen the Cat.[9]

Pusheen has become well known for appearing in sticker sets on Facebook, where stickers are images that can be attached to personal messages or comments.[2] The stickers feature, including a set of Pusheen stickers, was introduced to Android in April 2013, and added to the main Facebook website in July.[10] In an article for PC Magazine on emoji and unicode, Sascha Segan called Pusheen Facebook's "proprietary emoji", used as a form of vendor lock-in.[11] In April 2017, the Pusheen Corporation acquired office space in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The offices are used as a workspace for artists and photographers.[12]

Social media

Pusheen is an example of the popularity of cats on the Internet.[2] 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.[13] Pusheen's Facebook page has over 9.2 million fans as of February 2019.[14] The brand has expanded with merchandise, including an app. Pusheen has expanded to take part in multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. She also has many fan pages within the platforms, as well as blogs[15] dedicated to celebrating the comic. Her popularity has allowed the Pusheen Corporation to create an app that is an expansion of the sticker collection that started on Facebook. Each social media account owned by Pusheen's creators has gained over a million followers. Due to this rise in popularity, the company has started releasing GIFs on its website several times a month.

The Pusheen GIFs on Facebook include Pusheens resembling desserts. They also have Pusheens eating food such as pizza and donuts. Pusheens are even used at sign-in tables for events in Bellingham, Washington, often on the sign displaying the activity name. LaVenture Middle School in Mount Vernon, Washington sold Pusheen posters at a Scholastic book fair to raise funding. Pusheen.com has a self-quiz to show what kind of Pusheen fan you are.[16]

There are Youtube videos featuring Pusheen on the official Pusheen Youtube channel.[17]

Merchandising

The Pusheen corporation started selling Pusheen merchandise after her popularity took off in 2010.[18] The first Pusheen merchandise 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 Pusheen and became the manufacturer of her plush toys and blind boxes.[19] Pusheen Corp has teamed up with many brands to create and sell merchandise in stores, including retailer-specific items. Pusheen Corp 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 its merchandising to the website formerly known as Hey Chickadee, rebranded as The Pusheen Shop in 2019.[20] The site features merchandise collections dedicated to Pusheen, including plush toys, clothing, home decor, and accessories.[21] A quarterly subscription box, called the Pusheen Box, filled with Pusheen Products, is also available.[22] In 2022, the video game Fall Guys collaborated with her. In 2023, the video game Among Us collaborated with her too.

References
  1. Peters, Lucia (19 December 2018). "A Pusheen Cafe Is Opening & You Will Want Every Adorable Thing On The Menu". Bustle. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. "Pop Culture Dictionary: Pusheen". Dictionary.com. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  3. "Pusheen: Characters".
  4. "Comic 1: Pusheen Things". Everyday Cute. May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  5. Mosendz, Polly (14 March 2016). "How An Internet Cat Craze Became A Toy Empire". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  6. "Claire Belton". Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  7. Johnson, Jennifer (29 April 2018). "Pusheen Corp. looks to open third office in Uptown Park Ridge". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. Glein, Kelsey (2 April 2014). "What's Right Meow: Meet the Internet's Most Famous Kitty, Pusheen the Cat". InStyle. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  9. "The Many Lives of Pusheen the Cat".
  10. Wang, Abigail (3 July 2013). "Facebook Stickers Now Available On the Web". PC Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  11. Segan, Sascha (22 May 2015). "Bring On the Emoji". PC Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  12. Johnson, Jennifer. "Pusheen gets green light for office in Uptown Park Ridge". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  13. "Cats on the internet to star in New York museum exhibition". The Week. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  14. Matt Keeley (23 February 2016). "The True History of Pusheen, the Animated GIF Cat That's Taking Over Facebook". Hornet. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  15. "Pusheen blog article". MaliNaila. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  16. "Pusheen : How Big of a Pusheen Fan Are You?". pusheen.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  17. "Pusheen the Cat - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  18. "Everyday Cute » Blog Archive » The shop is up!". 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  19. "How An Internet Cat Craze Became A Toy Empire". NDTV.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  20. "Hey Chickadee is now The Pusheen Shop!". Facebook. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  21. "Pusheen Shop". Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  22. "Pusheen Box".
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