Tardar Sauce (born April 4, 2012), commonly known as Grumpy Cat, is an American internet celebrity cat. She is known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which is caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to prominence when a photograph of her was posted on September 22, 2012 on social news website Reddit by Bryan Bundesen, the brother of her owner Tabatha Bundesen. Lolcats and parodies created from the photograph by Reddit users went viral. She is the subject of a popular internet meme in which negative, cynical images are made from photographs of her.
Video Grumpy Cat
Background
Tardar Sauce was one of a litter of four kittens born to a calico mother and a father of an unknown breed at the home of her owner, Tabatha Bundesen. The Bundesens say that Tardar Sauce's face appears grumpy because the feline has a form of dwarfism. Though the mother and father are described as "normal sized domestic short hair cats", Tardar Sauce is undersized and has hind legs that are "a bit different". Both she and her brother, Pokey, were born with "a flat face, bubble eyes, and a short tail". Although she has a "grumpy" appearance and is called "Grumpy Cat", according to the Bundesens, "Ninety-nine percent of the time she is just a regular cat."
Meme Manager, Ben Lashes, represents Grumpy Cat, in addition to Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat. In 2013, Tabatha Bundesen took a leave of absence from her day job at Red Lobster to manage Grumpy Cat's schedule while Bryan Bundesen manages the Grumpy Cat website, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts.
Maps Grumpy Cat
Social media presence
As of July 30, 2018, Grumpy Cat has 8.4 million total followers on Facebook, 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million followers on Twitter.
Media appearances
Since her debut in 2012, Grumpy Cat has made many media appearances, typically accompanied by her owner, Tabatha Bundesen, Tabatha's brother, Bryan Bundesen, and occasionally Tabatha's daughter, Crystal, who are interviewed by the respective hosts of each program. She has also been featured in advertising campaigns for Friskies and General Mills' Honey Nut Cheerios, and makes public appearances to promote her own brand.
2012
- NBC News' Today show
2013
- ABC News' Good Morning America
- CBS Evening News
- Anderson Live
- VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live
- E! Network's The Soup
- FOX's American Idol
- Promoting Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book at BookExpo America.
- Book launches at Los Angeles department store, Kitson, and The Grove's Barnes & Noble.
- Michael Noer "interviewed" Grumpy Cat for Forbes magazine, released March 25, 2013. Seated opposite each other in red velvet accent chairs, Noer satirically supposes that Grumpy Cat's performances have "deeper philosophical underpinnings", "existential angst", and "nihilism", then goes on to quote Kafka, to which Grumpy Cat "replies" via a popular image macro with Impact typeface, "I read Kafka once. Wish I hadn't."
South By Southwest (SXSW)
In March 2013, Tardar Sauce attended SXSW Interactive, hosted at the Mashable House, where she appeared for two-hours each day as Grumpy Cat. As part of her Spokescat sponsorship, Friskies paid travel expenses to SXSW in Austin, Texas in order to film "Will Kitty Play With It?"
CNN, CBS, and CNET called Grumpy Cat the undisputed "biggest star" of SXSW Interactive over Elon Musk, Al Gore, and Neil Gaiman. Over 600 fans waited for hours in the line, which was nearly three blocks long, to take a photo. Among the crowds were Internet entrepreneur, Dennis Crowley, singer/songwriter and music producer, Andrew W. K., and actor, Ian Somerhalder. Somerhalder took photos with Grumpy Cat and called her his "new love", and described her as "very peaced out", "sweet as pumpkin pie", and "kind of amazing".
2014
- Television commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios.
- Season finale appearance on ABC Network's, The Bachelorette.
- Featured as a special guest on the November 17, 2014 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.
2016
- Special appearance on Disney Channel's Bizaardvark.
Friskies sponsorship
Grumpy Cat appeared in episodes of the Friskies YouTube game show "Will Kitty Play With It?" In September 2013, it was announced that Grumpy Cat would become the Official Spokescat of Friskies. TMZ reported that for Grumpy Cat's SXSW Interactive appearance in Austin, Texas, Friskies paid for first class flights, a private hotel room with king-sized bed, a personal assistant, a chauffeur, and unlimited Friskies food and bottled water. On March 22, 2013, Grumpy Cat traveled to New York City promoting the show and appeared on Good Morning America and Anderson Live and visited Time for a photoshoot.
Merchandising
As of August 2018, Grumpy Cat Limited holds 8 trademarks registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and there are 1082 items available on the official Grumpy Cat online shop.
Licensed merchandise
Licensed merchandise like t-shirts and mugs are advertised on the Grumpy Cat website and sold at Hot Topic. Stuffed toys are also available, the original official plush was produced by Gund, though as of August 2018, no Grumpy Cat merchandise was available on the Gund website. Ganz, the company behind Webkinz, produced a small Grumpy Cat plush which allowed anyone to play with her electronic likeness on the Webkinz website.
Additionally, Chronicle Books has published The Grumpy Cat Wall Calendar each year since 2013, with a 2019 edition available as of August 2018.
Books
The official Grumpy Cat book, Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book, was published on July 23, 2013, by Chronicle Books. The book is available in both print and digital formats from retailers worldwide. It debuted at #8 Hardcover Nonfiction on the Publishers Weekly best seller list. Another Grumpy Cat book called The Grumpy Guide to Life: Observations by Grumpy Cat was published by Chronicle Books and debuted at #3 on the New York Times Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous Bestseller List.
Dynamite Entertainment publishes a comic book about Grumpy Cat and her brother, titled The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat and Pokey.
Dover Publications has also published Grumpy Cat paper doll, sticker, coloring, and tattoo books.
Digital games
In December 2013, an official video game called Grumpy Cat: Unimpressed was released by Ganz Studios and is playable on Facebook, iOS devices and Android devices. The game is a match-three game where if combos are performed, Grumpy Cat's insults will appear. The players unlock her memes as they pass each level and she can be made angry with meows, hairballs and laser pointers.
In December 2016, Lucky Kat Studios released a game app for iOS and Android devices called Grumpy Cat's Worst Game Ever. Players can attempt to win mini-games, unlock iMessage stickers (iOS only), share memes, and more.
Legal issues
Grumpy Cat Limited vs Grenade Beverage LLC
In May 2013, Grumpy Cat Limited partnered with Grenade Beverage LLC to market "Grumppuccino" iced coffee beverages.
In December 2015, Grumpy Cat Limited filed a lawsuit against Grenade Beverage LLC citing trademark infringement when the beverage company expanded its line of Grumpy Cat coffee offerings beyond what was originally agreed upon, producing and marketing a Grumpy Cat roasted ground coffee even after being specifically told in writing via email that they were not approved to do so.
In January 2018, the California Federal Court jury sided with Grumpy Cat Limited and ordered Grenade Beverage Company to pay $710,000 in damages for copyright and trademark infringement, as well as a $1 nominal damage fee for breach of contract.
Film
Grumpy Cat appears in Lil Bub & Friendz, a documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2013, and won the Tribeca Online Festival Best Feature Film. In May 2013, Broken Road Productions optioned Grumpy Cat for a "Garfield-like feature film" adaptation. Producer Todd Garner said, "We think we can build a big family comedy around this character".
On June 11, 2014, it was announced that Lifetime would be producing a film about Grumpy Cat, entitled Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever, which debuted on November 29, 2014. Filming took place over the summer, and Tim Hill and Jeff Morris wrote the script. It was reported that Aubrey Plaza would be lending her voice talent for the Grumpy Cat character. Plaza is also a producer on the film and on November 6, 2014, Lifetime released a tongue-in-cheek video about the casting and Plaza's "process" for becoming the voice of Grumpy Cat.
Earnings
In March 2013, Bryan Bundesen indicated that Grumpy Cat earned them income in the "mid-five figures", which increased to "low-six-figures" by May 2013. As of August 2018, the Bundesens have not disclosed the Grumpy Cat brand's net worth, though online speculation estimates it between $1,000,000 and $100,000,000.
Recognition
- MSNBC named Grumpy Cat 2012's most influential cat.
- Grumpy Cat is one of a few select non-humans to receive one of the Wall Street Journal's signature stipple portraits.
- Grumpy Cat won BuzzFeed's Meme of the Year Award at the 2013 Webby Awards.
- Grumpy Cat won first prize Golden Kitty at the second annual Internet Cat Video Film Festival.
- Grumpy Cat won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Friskies.
- Swarm by Foursquare released a limited edition sticker featuring Grumpy Cat.
- Grumpy Cat won People's Voice Award in the Social Content and Marketing - Animals Category at the 2015 Webby Awards.
See also
- Cats and the Internet
- List of Internet phenomena
- List of wealthiest animals
- Keyboard Cat
- Nyan Cat
References
External links
- Official Grumpy Cat website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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