Fads & toys

“It’s not the toy business today. It’s the entertainment business. We no longer invent single hot products. We invent a whole family of products.” Arnold Greenberg, Cabbage Patch Kids manufacturer, 1985

The 1980s was the decade of conspicuous consumption and ‘must have’ products – for kids and adults alike. Cashed up parents were easy targets for marketing techniques that made Rubik’s Cubes, Sylvanian Families and Strawberry Shortcake dolls essential items for Generation X kids. Merchandising spin offs from television and movies expanded the ‘must have’ mix. This section of the exhibition looks at a few of these quintessentially 80s items.

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A SELECTION OF OBJECTS ON DISPLAY IN THE EXHIBITION