And A Child Shall Lead Them - Maybe

This paper attempts to open a dialogue on the role that children might play in social marketing campaigns. Namely, the paper begins from the premise that children may adopt behaviours consistent with the role of opinion leaders, which the author identifies as "those individuals who influence others not only to change their opinions, but also to adopt particular behaviors." After reviewing major research findings on opinion leadership and exploring means of identifying people who are likely to motivate other people in this way, the paper considers children as opinion leaders. The author reviews marketing research suggesting that children can influence their parents' consumer behaviours (by, say, demanding that they purchase a certain type of candy or cereal). But, the author asks, what about marketing that aims to "sell" a certain kind of social good, like health?

Little research has been conducted in this area. Thus, in an effort to draw attention to the issue, the author engaged in an informal study of three communication campaigns - Seabrook Station, Census in Schools, and Smoky Bear - that involved motivating children to foster certain "pro-social" behaviours on the part of their parents. This study involved a review of information available on the Internet as well as consultation with campaign organisers. Descriptions are provided of each of the three campaigns, which involved encouraging children through lectures and other school-based activities as well as mass-media advertising campaigns to bring information that advocates certain behaviours to their parents. The author notes that various issues - methodological, ethical, legal, and practical - involved with research on children in this role will complicate the more extensive studies that this paper is designed to inspire. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this informal study for public relations scholarship.

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