I have no suggestions.  I see the problem with the approach.  While the initial send out would garner attention (the small number of receipients), as soon as those emails are forwarded, the diminishing returns begin.  And of course the loss of quality control exists at stage 2.

And anyone who has been on the Internet for more than 2 years has already been banged so many time with hoaxes and lies sent out in this manner, that there is no credibility left in it. 

The beauty of the Internet is the fact it is largely unregulated.  However, for serious purposes, that is also its achilees heel.  There is no "Authority" that can come in and say "This is legitimate".  Even Snopes, while almost always on target, is not accurate enough to trust unequivocally.

Whether it is a noble cause or not...it is still spam.

Unsolicited communication of any sort is abhorrent and repugnant.

I make it a point of NEVER forwarding such 'alleged' worthy-cause emails...because I can do my little bit to break the bastard cycle that is impulsive, mindless abuse of the Internet/mailing system.

The problem you WILL strike with this 'experiment' will be your immediate alienation from people with a social conscience who do NOT abuse the Telecommunications Act by disseminating unwanted communication.

Plain and simple...flush it down the toilet!

I think you would have better luck with a more solid action people can take.  The incidents you talk about it's not a public service announcement...it's we're going to go here and do this...you come too.   I could see you using social media in a way to highlight your cause by posting to your friends and they can then act on it or not. 

I think sending an email is not the way to go.  I think the other responders are right...it is almost an unthinking response to delete and not take any action.

By your definition you are prohibited from sending any e-mail at all as the first transmission of any e-mail you yourself would generate would be considered spam. "Unsolicited communication of any sort is abhorrent and repugnant." How do you ever start a conversation with anyone via e-mails?

Thank you for all of your comments. I appreciate all the responses. What we are looking for are the "triggers" that cause an e-mail to become viral in nature (of course not the virus as in program, but viral as in numbers of transmissions). The mere fact that sites like snopes and urban legends even exist are testaments to the very nature of the e-mail forwarding system.

We find that many times the base human nature feelings are involved in what is being forwarded, horror, death, surprise or excitement, fear and others seem to be just a few of the triggers that help a e-mail become viral. Tapping into that natural response of many people who do these types of things is part of the informational gathering portion of my classes project. Imagine the socially beneficial concepts that could be distributed this way. The research is into the how and why of the event, not just the content itself, while that is important.

Not to worry I am not flooding peoples in boxes with SPAM. LOL But based on the Internets biggest area of usage (e-mail) it should be an interesting area for analyzing the very events that could be subject to this type of use.

Thanks again for the comments.

That's right...attempt to justify a stance by taking it to the extreme with a poor analogy.

Typically I DON'T initiate emails.  Work-wise they are only in response to communications via alternate media/method and are thus expected.

Being the unwitting recipient/audience to 'brainless communications' is sadly something you get to 'enjoy' when you have a career in Radio Communications in Motor Racing - where actual intelligence/competence is not always a prerequisite.  Having some moron blathering in your ear with facile bullshit while you can't escape is one really good way to 'win friends and influence people'.

'Chain-letter' communications [pyramid schemes] are usually somewhere between ill-advised and illegal in most places.

Re your specific 'experiment'....I think the LAST THING people need is a chain-letter-based Terrorist Alert from some hand-me-down relay from an unknown sender....certainly where each 'resending' could be interfered with.

And the OTHER LAST THING the world needs is for someone to determine exactly what 'makes an email become viral' so they can adopt whatever findings and incorporate in new and improved spamming.

One of my roles on Wincustomize.com is to remove spam...and spammers from Stardock's sites.  Perhaps if we Admins/mods were to leave them [spammers and their messages] untouched for a month you'd see a real experiment of how a site [and its community] can go to crap in no time.

Modern technology [computers] are not the saviour of the business world....offices still are NOT paperless...and productivity falls off when people have to deal with junk communications aka spam aka chain-letters aka fluffy the cat doing something cute/funny.

WOW you need a day off to relax. Take one on me.

Thanks for your comments..