The phraseposter childis deeply instill in the American lexicon , used to describe exemplars in everything from international political relation tofailed filmstoendangered plants , especially in academic papers . It ’s often applied negatively for how not to do something . But the origins of the full term are actually much more literal .
While the exact idiom did n’t enter the language until the 1930s , using children as a means to raise fund for hospitals goes right smart back . grant to Paul Longmore’sessay“Heaven ’s Special Children : The devising of Poster Children , ” English artist William Hogarth painted an barren child on a hospital ’s coat of arms to bid patrons to donate around 1737 . “ Poster children were , by design , the most visible symbolization of fundraising , ” Longmore notes .
The National Society for Crippled Children , founded in 1919 to increase profile for tike with disability , sell “ Easter seals ” as a fundraiser in the thirties . These adhesive stamps , design by cartoonist J.H. Donahey , featured drawings of small fry with crutches and the word “ Help Crippled Children . ” People could buy seals for a penny apiece and hold them to letter to show their support of the organization . The stamp campaigns were so successful that the organization rename itself theNational Easter Seal Society , now shortened to Easterseals . ( Many decennary later , on the strength of their fundraising , the National Easter Seal Society successfully lobby for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 . )
But the society was n’t the only child wellness organization to use its clients as fundraiser . The GeorgiaWarm Springs Foundation , established in 1927 by future tense presidentFranklin D. Rooseveltto treat citizenry with polio , hired famed illustrator Howard Chandler Christy to design a poster featuring a nipper in a wheelchair .
Roosevelt expand the program start by the Warm Springs Foundation by constitute the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis , known today as theMarch of Dimes , in 1938 . Everyday citizen were encouraged to post in donations as small as 10 cent to help find a cure for infantile paralysis . The U.S. regularlybattled seasonal outbreaksof the enteric viral contagion , which spread out through polluted body of water and shared aim . It was especially devastating to children — they often experience the issue of post - polio syndrome , include paralysis . The virus ’s easy transmission forced swimming pools and community centerfield to shutter in summertime .
Two exposure were taken to be used in the campaign , which would show everyday Americans what life was like for minor with thedisease . The first had Anderson be given against a hospital bottom with his shoulder and arm in a suspender . The 2d portray his recuperation , with Anderson saunter confidently frontward without help . He went on a promotion tour of duty for the campaign and met many famous people over the years , including Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio . Anderson also lay a wreath at the grave of FDR .
By 1955,Jonas Salkhad develop the poliovaccineand cases among children in the United States had begun to plummet . Three age later , the March of Dimes wobble its attention to preventing nascence shortcoming and go on to feature a succession of poster children .
“ I matte up as though I had been changed into a new and exciting person , ” Emily Rapp Black , a March of Dimes fundraiser in 1980 , writes in her memoirPoster Child . “ I felt famous ; I felt singled out and special … I spoke to gang both gravid and small about how normal my lifetime was and how well-chosen I was — all in an effort to raise awareness and money for an organization designed to fund enquiry that would prevent congenital nascency flaw interchangeable to my own . ”
After his 15 minutes of celebrity , Anderson expend decades working for the U.S. Postal Service in Seattle . He tie , had kid , and eventually had grandchildren . He passed by in 2014 at years 73 , living well past the life anticipation of a child with polio .
Other organizations saw the success of the March of Dimes ’s model and launch poster child campaigns . One of theMuscular Dystrophy Association ’s National Goodwill Ambassadors [ PDF ] in the early 2000s was 11 - year - old Mattie Stepanek , who went on to become a best - deal poet and peace activist . Today , St. Jude Children ’s Research Hospital and Shriner ’s Hospital are two organizations that conspicuously feature their child patient in fundraising commercial , includingAlec Cabacungan , who has appeared in Shriners adssince 2015 .
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