poster child

Alternative forms

• posterchild

Etymology

From the usage of appealing young people and children in charitable advertisements.

Noun

poster child (plural poster children)

1. (chiefly US, idiomatic) One who is a prototypical or quintessential example of something.

   He's a poster child for militant vegetarianism.

   • 2005, Susan Cunningham, “Poster Child”, in Unwrapping the Sandwich Generation. Life Vignettes about Seniors & Their Adult Boomer Children‎, Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 175:

     I think he smile could have opened the door by itself. It seemed to have a life of it’s^[sic] own with snow-white teeth below sparkling blue eyes. Its owner could be the poster child for the expression “grinning from ear to ear.”

   • 2006, Ted Dekker and Bill Bright, Blessed Child‎, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 77:

     “He’s not exactly a poster child for the average well-adjusted American kid. He’s only been in-country for a few days.”

   • 2008, Susan B. Neuman, “Changing the Odds though After-School Programs”, in Changing the Odds for Children at Risk: Seven Essentail Principles of Educations Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty‎, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 169:

     A visit to Adventure Island–an after-school program developed by Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden, professors at Johns Hospkins University and creators of Success for All, a comprehensive school reform program practiced in hundreds of schools across the country–could be the poster child for what some might call the academic approach.