Hoops&Yoyo

Hoops & Yoyo (officially styled as hoops&yoyo) are a pair of animated characters featured on Hallmark Cards. The website, www.hoopsandyoyo.com features E-cards, animated episodes, an "Ask hoops&yoyo" section, desktop and phone wallpapers, audio snippets, IM icons, fan photos, interactive monthly calendars, blog, podcast, games, and merchandise available for purchase. The storylines center around two main characters: Hoops, a pink cat, and Yoyo, a green rabbit, and also feature a few other humorous characters joining them. Hoops and Yoyo tend to get overexcited and commonly start yelling or talking really fast. They both love coffee, cookies, and any treat. They like to do anything that's fun. They're always happy, and always try to have fun no matter what happens.

Hoops
Hoops: A pink cat which acts like a big brother to Yoyo who is green. He sometimes hides lollipops from Yoyo and says "dingos" stole them. He can get hyper at times.

Yoyo
Yoyo is a little green rabbit who gets too overexcited sometimes even makes some mistakes. He likes lollipops, and is slightly more energetic than Hoops.

Piddles
Piddles is a little blue mouse who's Hoops and Yoyo's best friend. She hopes of becoming an opera singer, and laughs at Hoops and Yoyo's jokes. Hoops and yoyo best friend.

Chili Bear
Chili Bear is Hoops and Yoyo's boss at work.

Marshy
Marshy is a giant marshmallow monster that chases Hoops and Yoyo and scares them for no reason.

Puck
Puck is a purple mouse that sometimes appears on the Hoops and Yoyo website's homepages.

Bluebird
Bluebird is a bluebird that appears on the Hoops and Yoyo website.

Television
The characters were used on the Hallmark Channel in November and December 2009 as part of a special movie night. This is the first time that Hallmark Cards and Hallmark Channel have collaborated.

Albums
In December 2005, Hallmark released a Hoops&Yoyo holiday CD entitled Jingle Jingle Wiggle. It features both vocal and instrumental music. All of the music is played by Hoops and Yoyo's friend Pablo and his band Makuza. The CD also features the animated short "A Bongo Christmas." They have also released a CD entitled One Donut a Day! with Parry Gripp on July 1, 2007. It includes 19 short songs.

Controversy
In 2010, Hallmark pulled an astronomy-themed Hoops&Yoyo "talking" graduation card after members of the Los Angeles, California chapter of the NAACP claimed that it contained a racist message. The greeting card contained the words: "And you black holes -- you're so ominous! And you planets? Watch your back!" However, the Los Angeles NAACP members felt that the card was offensive because "black holes" sounded like "black whores" in the recording. Hallmark denied that the card was in any way racist, but pulled it from its stores nonetheless.