The Rabbit's Foot Phenomena

Maybe someone can help me with this. I was in a locksmith place with Todd today and noticed the big 80's trend of the rabbit's foot. When I was a kid, I thought, "Man that's cool, and it's soft!" Now that I am little bit older (though it can be argued that I am still a kid), my first thought was, "Is that really a dead rabbit's foot? How sick is that?!" My next thoughts were, "Why did they put warm fuzzy stuff on a dead rabbit's foot? And why in the world was this on my G.I. Joe keychain?" Maybe you can help explain to me this weird phenomena. I know we live in the day of novelty and trends, but this one just hit me odd. I mean, "What made this a good-luck charm?" I just don't get it, and I got wigged out by it. Did you every buy a rabbit's foot? Come on, be honest. I did, and I don't know why. Granted I was at the same time buying slap bracelets and Pop Rocks, and maybe I didn't know any better. But I am curious to know what made this so popular. Any answers?