Their older children all became doctors, but their youngest son chose/followed a different (career) 'path'.
His friends all went to college, but he chose to 'follow' a different path. [=to do something different]
He believes the average consumer is being 'led down the garden path' by the promises in advertisements.
(..) I see it. Torches you think? Yeah, maybe. Maybe lanterns. They're following our path. Dead on it. I couldn't do that. Could you do that? How can they do that? Who are those guys? (..)1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid