It may or may not be an old marketing technique, but it can be a very sustainable one for many products, services, or social actions: ask people to do what you want for the sake of children.
“Do it for the children” is different from marketing to children or using children in marketing, both of which are controversial, to say the least.
Instead, it’s appealing to people’s sense of responsibility to the youngest generation, indeed to the future of human kind. It goes without saying that the message can’t just be thrown in for good measure. It must conform to the nature of the offering being marketed. In other words, the product should ideally be sustainable (cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-cradle).
Inspiration for this post: this sign attached to a school fence in Southeast Portland and spotted last Saturday on a walk through the most beautiful day of the year so far. And what a reminder that while asking people to do it for the children may work, guilt-tripping may be a turn-off.
Do you know of any good examples of sustainable businesses using the “do it for the children” technique?
