Hello Kitty Used to Embarass Naughty Thai Policemen

The Thai police force instituted a policy this week that made me realize that mouthless pop culture icon Hello Kitty is actually an effective law enforcement tool. From now on, naughty police officers—those who are late for duty, who get in fights with other officers, or who park illegally—are forced to wear big pink armbands with this Kitty on them. The fear of being humiliated is supposed to bar these kinds of offenses from happening in the first place.

I don't know much about Thailand—is it really the kind of macho society where men would be really embarrassed to be wearing a Hello Kitty armband? In Japan, I feel like some men might even choose to have Kitty on their arms. Anyway, Kitty isn't that much cuter than Peepo-kun, the cartoony Japanese police mascot.

Link (Thanks, Felicity!)

Comments

[WordsnCollision]

Cool pic of the "Band of Shame" in use here, c/o BBC News:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44043000/jpg/_44043954_hellokitty203.jpg

[Lisa]

Thanks! I changed the pic.