TheCabbage Patch riots were a series of violent customer outbursts at several retail stores in theUnited States in the fall and winter of 1983. TheCabbage Patch Kids toy line was in tremendous demand, and in 1982 Cabbage Patch's parent companyColeco was the best performer on theNew York Stock Exchange, rising from $6.87 to $36.75 per share.[1] Most stores at the time typically stocked only between two and five hundred of the product, and with thousands of customers surging the stores, attempting to obtain one of the dolls, many fought with other customers to obtain one.[1]
The holiday season of 1983 saw several violent occurrences in such major retail stores asSears,JCPenney,Wards andMacy's. In smaller retail stores, such as the now-defunctKmart andZayre, retailers attempted to control crowds by handing out "purchase tickets" to the first several hundred customers, leaving hundreds, if not thousands, empty-handed after standing in line for several hours.[2] In Milwaukee, radio DJs jokingly announced that a B-29 bomber would drop Cabbage Patch Kids dolls atCounty Stadium, which prompted two dozen people to follow their facetious instructions to stand in the −2 °F (−19 °C) wild-chill holding catcher's mitts andAmerican Express cards.[1]
Reports of violence included hitting, shoving, and trampling, as well as some customers attacking others with weapons such asbaseball bats in order to obtain a Cabbage Patch Doll.[3][4] By 1984, with more supply of the dolls and demand dropping, violence declined.
It was not clear why the “homely” dolls were so intensely desired. ATime article featured a theory from a doctor that "most children between the ages of six and twelve fantasize that they were really adopted," which made it appealing to experience the adoption fantasy through the dolls, which came with birth certificates and adoption papers.[1][5]
The Cabbage Patch riots foreshadowed subsequent holiday toy crazes, such as for theTickle Me Elmo doll in 1996 andHatchimals in 2016. The riots also inspired the plot of the 1996 Christmas film,Jingle All the Way.
