devil's dictionary

poster child: a reference to well-dressed, smiling crippled children on charity posters. Originally used to deflect the pain that would come from acknowledging another's suffering, now used simply to mean the use of a person as a symbol. Usually said with snide jocularity to ridicule another aims, e.g., "Foes make Bush a poster child for change".

Note: real crippled children cannot (yet) be made sport of, so one must be vigilant in resisting the tempation to imply that their minders are merely patsies. Not all poster children are created equally; hidden cameras will undoubtedly help with this problem.