Research Symposium

BIO

Henry Zoetewey is a freshman at Florida State University majoring in Accounting. While pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, he's been recognized with Presidential Scholarship, Vires Scholarship, and the Bright Futures Scholarship. He's currently being mentored under Richard Waters while in the Undergrad Research Opportunities Program, creating a pop culture analysis on what can be considered a modern day anachronism. He's aiming to go to graduate school and earn a CPA before venturing into the work place full time.

Pop-Culture Analysis on Garbage Pail Kids

Abstract

In this project, we underwent a pop-culture analysis of Garbage Pail Kids, a popular collectable in the 80s known most strongly for nationwide bans and vulgar content. It’s commonly noted as a satire parody to Cabbage Patch Kids. Its recent resurgence in popularity post-covid sparked interest on how the content depicted reflects on the creators who gestated these cards. In order to dive deeper, we used a mix of the Hermeneutic Method (deep reading) and Qualitative Coding to provide deeper insight. After sifting through unique markers on each card and repeatedly surveying each card to sift them, we didn’t accept data unless we hit 80% in researcher agreement. This unique analysis on a piece of American culture hopes to give a more thorough understanding of both the creators and the circumstances in which the media portrayed has thrived leading to a deeper understanding of this anachronism in modern day.

Keywords: Pop Culture Analysis