The Cabbage Patch Kids, soft-sculpture dolls with unique names and adoption certificates, were a massive and violently competitive Christmas fad in 1983. The 'adoption' concept created a huge public demand, leading to store stampedes and high-priced black markets. The craze was a masterclass in marketing, turning a simple doll into an 'adoptable' child, and it played on the culture's obsession with collectibles and the sentimental value of adopting a unique individual.

The Cabbage Patch Kid craze was a significant cultural touchstone for the Baby Boomer generation's children, influencing the way poets of Generation X and later wrote about childhood, materialism, and the construction of identity. The idea of 'adopting' a consumer product has been explored in poems that critique consumer capitalism and the commodification of sentiment. The dolls have become a symbol of a certain kind of 1980s consumerism that is ripe for poetic satire.