The Little People concept had quickly attracted wider attention well beyond rural Georgia. Babyland even got a mention in the UK’s Daily Express as early as 1980, albeit as “the kind of lunatic scheme that appeals to Americans”. Still, as cynics might say, there’s one born every minute, and the concept’s blockbuster commercial potential was spotted by Coleco Industries, a company mainly known for its electronic toys such as the ColecoVision video game console. In 1982, the firm licensed the dolls for a mass-produced version. In a marketing masterstroke, the Little People were now called Cabbage Patch Kids.
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As the media feeding frenzy grew, the BBC sent correspondent Bob Friend to Babyland to visit the “rather more expensive brothers and sisters of the mass-produced version which is causing all the hysteria”. One of the so-called nurses insisted: “They’re not dolls, they’re babies. Each has its own personality. They’re all individuals, the same as we are.” Hospital administrator Laura Meir was even more forthright. “Doll is a four-letter word that we don’t use,” she said. “You can go out and buy a doll that wets, cries, roller-skates, but our babies don’t really do anything. They are lifelike, they’re cuddly, they’re warm and instead of entertaining you, the babies require your imagination.”
The dolls proved so popular that they even inspired macabre bubblegum cards that became a playground phenomenon. The Garbage Pail Kids were made by trading-card firm Topps and featured grotesque cartoons designed to delight kids and horrify adults. One of the creators was Art Spiegelman, who later won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his graphic novel Maus. Characters included Adam Bomb, a doll-like figure with a mushroom cloud erupting from his head, and Potty Scotty, forever wedged in a toilet. The backs of the cards carried mock permission slips granting children licence to commit anti-social acts, from skipping homework to “lying whenever you think is necessary”.