Did you expect it to be obvious? It's a very complex problem and we are badly informed at best. Two excellent presentations on these lines: http://www.okanan

Did you expect it to be obvious? It's a very complex problem and we are badly informed at best. Two excellent presentations on these lines: http://www.okananter.com/wordpress/?p=21 http://www.okananter.com/wordpress/?p=21 http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/140 http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/140 As for marketing to the poor, I don't follow your reasoning. It strikes me as obvious that it's easier and a better ROI to make money from those who have some to spare than from those who don't. As currently underdeveloped countries get richer, more people will try and sell to them. Are you talking about positioning now so you'll reap the rewards when these countries get richer? That's not making money on the poor; it's investing money on advertising to them so you can hopefully get it back when they get rich enough to be potential customers. I wonder how many of the people in the position to make such a decision will look that far into the future. They should be looking to maximize shareholder value, and who invests looking for a ROI event 50 years from now? [Edit: Of course I see why serving this market would be motivating, and I'm not saying it can't be profitable.]