The mysterious ways of consumers

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

The figures before us are stark. They tell us that more than 60 percent of people in the country live below the poverty line (according to the UNDP’s Human Development Index). The majority survive on under $2 a day. Two years ago, the finance minister of the country himself confirmed that at least 50 percent of the population lived in poverty.

Given these statistics, we can imagine that the main priorities for the people would be basic: food, shelter, education and healthcare. But there is a curious twist to this pattern. It appears that in thousands of cases, the numbers are unclear, given the lack of research. People spend a considerable portion of their income on items that would in other situations be considered luxury goods.

 Smartphones turn up in all kinds of unexpected places, as do tablets and the other gadgetry that are advertised in the media and have become status symbols by the demand for these possessions. The same is true of television sets and items such as the food goods so frequently marketed by television channels or the billboards that look down on all the major cities of the country.

Of course, we cannot control what people chose to spend their money on. But there is a need to examine the patterns of spending and the social impact of these choices. A cursory glance would suggest that the smallest possible amounts are spent on items such as food. Although food is an essential need for every human being, and especially for children and pregnant women, it often appears to be thrust lower and lower down on the financial priorities of households. Perhaps it does not bring with it sufficient status.

In other words, families prefer to spend on expensive phones or other devices than on ensuring a healthy diet for the household. Many of the items commonly purchased are of virtually zero value in terms of nutrition. This is one of the reasons we see so many children with visible signs of malnutrition, such as bleached hair or disfigured teeth, who nevertheless clutch a small phone as they wander through the streets.

It is important to try and understand this phenomenon: why has it occurred and when did it begin? There are suggestions that similar patterns occur in other places around the world. The power of media marketing is enormous. We also need to look at the strategies that have been used to break these cycles and persuade people that eating well or putting money into the future of their children, so that families can gain the momentum required to acquire social mobility, is vital.

First of all, a detailed assessment is required. It does not appear that anyone in a school of economics or other academic institute has really delved in any detail into this realm. Yet, understanding how the dynamics of a society shape its habits is vital in so many ways. It gives an insight into how people think and how they act, and all this is of immense significance when it comes to devising policies.

The policies and strategies put in place by a government are, after all, intended in the final scheme of things to help improve the lives of people. To improve these lives we must first understand how they are lived, and this is not always an easy task. In the first place, what we see on the surface may not be the truth, or the full truth. Looking deeper is then imperative.

We have heard it said, again and again, that there is little or no real poverty in society. This is something we hear from people regularly, and it is true that poverty is not as visible in Pakistan as it is in, say, neighbouring India. Or then, perhaps, this is simply because we prefer not to look at the expanses of shanty towns that stretch out across all our major cities and towns, at the wasted or stunted children everywhere – in a nation where nearly half fail to reach the expected weight or height for their age – or at the emaciated mothers who give birth to and nurse child after child.

Should we care to look, the signs are visible everywhere. It is simply more convenient and more comfortable to deny that they exists. Should we admit that it is there, we would need policies to address it, and the past six and a half decades have shown that we are not very good at putting these in place.

There are policies that could be adopted. The example of the Grameen Bank, started in Bangladesh over 20 years ago, has had an impact around the world. Perhaps its most important contribution is the finding that when women are given loans, they use the money to benefit the entire family by investing in education, nutrition and healthcare. Women have also been found to be devoted entrepreneurs when it comes to setting up small businesses, using credit from schemes such as Grameen to benefit entire families. This is a fact that development programmes in our own country are already familiar with.

The Orangi Pilot Project saw this pattern and the programmes inspired by it have followed in the same direction. We need to look at how we can best make use of the existing social dynamics to bring the maximum benefit to families and individuals.

The challenge is one that we must take up. Multiple reports have come out over the past two years that indicate that at least one third of the Pakistani population lives in complete poverty and about half lives in severe hardship. We need to better understand what can be done to assist these people.

One method is to look at consumer trends and see where household incomes are going. We already know that giant chunks go to utility bills, school fees and other unavoidable expenses. But aside from these, we need to know how people choose to utilise their money and who makes these decisions. There is after all something deeply ironic about a child turning up at school with visible signs of malnutrition, while his or her older sibling or parent owns a smartphone, or the pupil him/herself own a tablet, which is brought out with much pride in class.

Somehow, we need to change the factors that people consider the most important in their lives. As a society and as a country, we should put the welfare of individuals and families above all else. Planning needs to be executed to ensure they are properly taken care of, in terms of their most basic needs. To achieve this, we will need to alter a great deal about how we manage things and what people who live in our country have come to believe.

Altering perceptions is not easy, but it is something we will need to strive towards, if we are to make any meaningful difference in the way in which people lead their lives. If we are able to initiate these changes, we may succeed in improving the conditions in which citizens live. But to do this, we will first of all need to understand what is most important for the people.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com