I'm very serious. As serious as one can be while talking about an anthropomorphic cat wearing a bow. Is it even a legit character? Does it actually do anything other than appearing on merchandise aimed at little girls? I sincerely don't know. Why do you enjoy it?
You're obviously a fan, and so are they, otherwise you wouldn't be talking about it in the first place. You can't automatically extrapolate that experience to other Americans. In my estimation, it isn't popular enough that most people would find themselves discussing it.