Let's check in on Babyland

A few weeks ago, this video from ABC News in Australia popped up on my YouTube homepage:

If you read the first post on Night Water back in February, you will know that I am obsessed with Babyland General Hospital, the fake hospital/company store where Cabbage Patch Kids are born. I knew that, in addition to the current location in Georgia, there was once a location in Manhattan, but this video seems to suggest that there was also a location in Australia, which is incredible to me. A cursory Google search provides no additional information about Babyland Australia; I have reached out to the Cabbage Patch Kids team for comment and additional information.

While we wait: I wrote a guest post for the newsletter BNet about the incredible Instagram presence of Babyland General, which you can go read now. Here’s a little taste:

I’ve never been to Babyland General, despite very much wanting to experience the thrill of hearing “Mother Cabbage is in labor!” through a store-wide sound system. Instead, I’ve primarily experienced the store through its official Instagram account, @cabbagepatchkidsdelivery. With approximately 15,000 followers, Babyland's account is only 10,000 followers behind the official account for the entire Cabbage Patch Kids brand.

There is a charming erraticism to the Babyland General account—perhaps not surprising given that the entire institution is centered around the reproductive cycle of a single cabbage-based being—and it seems clear to me that there are no dedicated social media professionals associated with it. If it wasn’t connected to a line of dolls that once inspired violent altercations across the country, you might think it was just an account for a local toy store, or an obsessed doll collector.

Read the whole thing over on BNet.