My article from last week, “Rainforest Action Network . . . Does Indoctrination Count,?” drew a bit of attention on this blog. That article was the first in a case study series on how Rainforest Action Network involves children in its various anti-corporate campaigns. Today’s post is the second article in that series.

Below you’ll see a link to a Rainforest Action Network video that appears on YouTube.com, in the Rainforest Action Network channel. This video involves a toddler, to the seeming confusion of his mother, in declaring, toward the end of this 48 second video, that he doesn’t want any “rainforest destruction” in his cereal.

I’m assuming that this young man was a child actor hired for this specific RAN video. I assume this because I don’t realistically believe that any toddler is going to utter the words “rainforest destruction” of their own choosing. So, my question becomes:

Is using child actors appropriate in a politically-motivated campaign?

And, yes, this is politics. Private politics is the process of “collective interactions between parties attempting to advance their interests that do not rely on the law, public order, or the state.” (Source: Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility, p. 30.) NGOs practice private politics when they engage a company to get the company to change its behavior. In the RAN campaign of which this video is a part, RAN is attempting to affect a change in General Mills’ (the maker of Cheerios) purchases of palm oil, an ingredient in their cereals.

Concerning the above question, you’ve probably guessed my opinion, especially if you have read the previous post in this case study series, “Rainforest Action Network . . . Does Indoctrination Count?”

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