Mr. Men Little Miss (franchise)

Mr. Men Little Miss is a children's book series franchise by Roger Hargreaves that came to be in 1971 and 1981 respectively.
"Mr. Men" and "Little Miss" are two separate trademarks that together form the Mr. Men Little Miss Franchise.

Mr. Men and Little Misses as a "species" are anthropomorphic interpretations of (human) reflexes, bodily attributes, personality traits and in a few cases something fantastical. The first Mr. Man created, Mr Tickle, was prompted by Adam Hargreaves asking his father, Roger Hargreaves, what a "tickle" would look like. Gradually the character concept went less abstract to personifications of human traits.

## History

Roger Hargreaves passed away in 1988 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent from a stroke. His son Adam Hargreaves and his daughter Amelia Beddoe have continued the franchise. Adam writes and draws new stories, while Amelia takes care of the management.

After his death, his son **Adam Hargreaves**, reluctantly, continued drawing and later writing the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters with new stories while signing the covers in his father's signature. It was stated he was put on the task to "ensure they remain faithful to the original version". This is however based on nothing but family/blood ties as Adam had never written children's stories and had little interest in it and ironic as not all Little Misses and Mr. Men are by the Hargreaves.

Adam took over somewhere in 2000, his first creations being Mr. Cool and Little Miss Scary. The documentation and crediting of the works published in the ten years in between is rather vague.

In 1990 a rich collection of new Mr Men and Little Miss characters were added. Supposedly they were in a concept, nearly finished and/or needed some final polishing before publication that Roger has left for others to mend to. Whoever who would have done that was not credited.

However, the French library credits three particular artists; Writer **Viviane Cohen**, **Evelyne Lallemand** (translator) and illustrator **Collete David** are credited for the concept, scenario, text and illustrations. With this crediting, specifically "concept", which are the most raw beginnings of a creation, there is no clear reason to assume that Roger was involved with the creation of the 1990's characters at all, regardless the use of his signature.

What is surely fact is that Roger had even less to do with the creation of the "French Exclusive Library characters", made by the exact same trio of French creators and released in the exact same year, and, also made use of Roger's signature.

These "French" characters were and are still not added within the 'official Rogers' library. The reasoning for this is unclear but one is to assume the motive to be the more obvious lack of involvement of Roger, which affects the "authenticity" of the brand.

Adam was already credited for the New Story Library as its writer and illustrator - but around the same time the French New Library came out, which does not credit Adam at all.

In the time from Roger's death and Adam's supposed takeover, merchandise were copyrighted Mrs. R. Hargreaves.

In April 2004 Hargreaves's widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group Chorion, for £28 million.

In December 2011, **Chorion** went bankrupt and sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to **Sanrio**, known for its many mascot brands, especially Hello Kitty. To this day, Sanrio, under the name **THOIP** in the UK, holds the rights to the franchise.

In October 2015, Sanrio revealed the prototypes of what would become Mr. Marvelous, Little Miss Sparkle, Little Miss Fabulous and Mr. Adventure. They were all released throughout the course of 2016.

Sanrio is showcasing new creative ideas for its top brands at Brand Licensing Europe this week in London, including Hello Kitty, My Melody and Mr. Men Little Miss.
Following Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary on 2015, this year the company is celebrating the 40th of My Melody and Little Twin Stars.
The company is also highlighting the Mr. Men Little Miss brand, which marks its 45th anniversary in 2016, and plans to introduce four new characters to family Mr. Marvelous, Mr. Adventurer, Little Miss Sparkle and Little Miss Fabulous.

In 2021, the 50th anniversary of the series, 5 new characters were introduced, with a rigged poll to gain engagement. Mr. Calm won this poll.

## Localization

The Mr. Men are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, France, Greece, United States and Japan.
While the timeline of content is spread, it lived its high days in the 80s/90s, where the classic library was translated and published in 25 different countries.

### France

France played a huge role in placing the franchise where it now stands. **Viviane Cohen**, **Evelyne Lallemand**, **Collete David** provided France with exclusive stories of the Roger created characters, added thirteen new characters to the Classic Library (9 Little Misses, 4 Mr. Men) and added a whole new range of characters (9 Little Misses, 2 Mr. Men) exclusive to the French library.
Some exclusive French content made its way to be published in Greece as well.

Mr. Brave
Mr. Grumble
Mr. Perfect
Mr. Cheerful
Little Miss Busy
Little Miss Quick
Little Miss Wise
Little Miss Tidy
Little Miss Brainy
Little Miss Stubborn
Little Miss Curious
Little Miss Fun
Little Miss Somersault

Mr. Crosspatch
Mr. No
Little Miss All-Goes-Well
Little Miss Brilliant
Little Miss Busy-Body
Little Miss Careful
Little Miss Loud
Little Miss Prim
Little Miss Show-Off
Little Miss Vain
Little Miss Yes

In 1995, Mr. Men and Little Miss, the first actual cartoon was made in France. It even shown a few French Exclusive characters. (Prim, Crosspatch)

In 2008, The Mr. Men Show, produced in the US, featured Mr. Rude as a xenophobic French stereotype. In both the US as UK, voice actor sharing Mr. Rude and Mr. Scatterbrain kept their French and New York accent respectively.
Despite above issue, The Mr. Men Show had its own related publications of two exclusive French books, Mr. Tickle and the Ghosts and Miss Chatterbox and the Prince.

### Sweden

In Sweden, Anders Glenmark created the album Gubben Lycklig Och Hans Vänner in 1981, which was the very first music album ever released in the franchise.

## Controversy & Changes

After doing well as children's fiction as a basis, nowadays it's not much more than a brand that keeps afloat on nostalgia. Fiction not made by Hargreaves -for as far the public knows of it- is met with criticism and a reluctant attitude towards change. Therefor, changes are hard to make and may not last either.

**Little Miss "Plump"** - renamed Little Miss Greedy. "Plump" is considered offensive as it focuses so much on the result of the habit instead of the habit itself, this of course tied to her being a female character being named after how she looks. Despite now sharing her lastname with Mr. Greedy, the change did not imply the cousins are now supposed siblings.

**Mr. "Uppity"** - renamed Mr. Snooty as of 2020. "Uppity" is considered offensive due to its contextual historical usage. "Uppity" does not simply equate to arrogance but also thinking of oneself as higher than their supposed position. In the South of America, the term was used by white supremascist racists towards black people, often followed be an anti-black slur. Perhaps unrelated: "Mr. Uppity" happens to be the only character of his shade; a dark reddish brown. while contextually his narrative does not assume him to fake his class (nor mention of his background/appearance) the brand still felt inclined to change his name. There are many words that are synonymous to arrogance (pompous, lofty, haughty) and the brand settled on "Snooty".

**"Little Miss" title** - An ongoing discussion is the use of the "Little Miss" title. It is deemed sexist due to being belittling to women. Both the "Mr. [noun]" as "Little Miss [noun]" is used as language to speak to a child acting difficult, thus referring to them with adult titles. Unlike "Mr." that only become belittling with the noun following, "Little Miss" on itself is belittling simply due to the "Little". The discussion is unlikely to meet a conclusion as the copyright and trademark of the Little Misses's lies in that title, even if it is generic.  On top of that, the nostalgic side of the fanbase is very reluctant to see any change happen even if it is change for the better.

**"Mx. Person"** - Further on titles is the request to add characters with the "Mx." title. Adam Hargreaves said that it is "difficult" to explain a child gender variation as such and thus not feeling the need to challenge the child's awareness on that matter, assuming as well the gender diversity is not relevant to the child's experience. Therefore, if it is up to Adam, it will not happen. Considering his attitude, the nostalgic "traditional" following's attitude and the immense trouble to "outsource" work written by a non-Hargreaves, it might not be considering and happen any time soon.
As of 2020, there is a rise of transphobia so severe it nearly envelops England's culture as a whole - especially due to the Harry Potter books writer J.K.Rowling being in the front-lines of fascism. England puts itself on the world market through its succesfull franchises, explaining why Mr. Men had a collab with the Dr. Who series and the Spice Girls. As such, Mr. Men going against Harry Potter by representing and including trans people (in a positive light) might be even more unlikely the coming years.

**Mr. Nosey's design** - One of the more difficult designs in the franchise is Mr. Nosey. For art, animation and merchandise it is a tricky design to work with and even Roger himself already simplified the design later on. This design made his belly protrude more and his nose a bit shorter and rounder but still ever so long. The Mr. Men Show performed many redesigns but most prominently was Mr. Nosey, who, design and context wise, was combined with both Mr. Greedy as Mr. Nosey. However, journalists read this change as 'political correct'; The specific focus on his nose, the shape of his nose and the green colour all allude to an anti-semitic caricature even if nothing contextual of Nosey refers it to be as such. It is important to note that the only documentation of questioning the classic design came from people mocking a controversy they themselves brought to surface.

**French xenophobia** - The Mr. Men Show, produced in the US, featured Mr. Rude as a xenophobic French stereotype. In both the US as UK, voice actor sharing Mr. Rude and Mr. Scatterbrain kept their French and New York accent respectively.

While the French themselves more or less side-eyed this, the UK media stressed the fact by contacting the French embassy in London about it.

But a source at the embassy told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that this kind of humor won’t go any distance toward easing a centuries-old rivalry between the two nations.
“It is obviously meant in a light-hearted way, but it won’t improve Anglo-French relations,” the source said.

While articles claim Mr. Rude is the only foreign accent having character, such is not true for either the US or the UK dub. The US has Mr. Stubborn as Nigerian and Mr. Bounce as Indian.
The UK has Mr. Fussy as German and kept Scatterbrain as a New Yorker, making him "foreign" to the UK public as well. However, the choice of all other voices are only mildly in context of the characters while Mr. Rude had various references to being French, such as reading a book depicting the Eiffel Tower, wearing a beret or saying "I do not give a croissant".

Chorion commented "it is not meant to cause offense but the English view of the French lacking a little politeness is well known."

## Notes and citations

**References**

1. ↑ Roger Hargreaves on Lambiek.net
2. ↑ Telegraph, article by Katy Hastings 10/02/2008
3. ↑ License! Global - Sanrio plans news Mr. Men characters
4. ↑ Reuters, article by Georgina Cooper 14/02/2018
5. ↑ Telegraph, article by Katy Hastings 10/02/2008

**Notes**
1. ↑ Note that Marvelous was still spelled "Marve**ll**ous", which is the UK spelling. Adventure was firstly "Adventure**r**"
2. ↑ Even with the admirable gain in Little Misses, not even the French Exclusive Library has managed to get to an equal ratio of Mr. Men and Little Misses.
3. ↑ THOIP/Sanrio tried to sue Disney for using "Little Miss X" on their merchandise but lost due to there being no infringement on the English Language itself