Profit off the Poor?

With increasing food and gas prices, rising unemployment, and debt problems beginning to affect the spending power of the middle class in the U.S. and elsewhere, major international corporations are beginning to seek new markets to keep their profits up. Apparently the profiting off of the poor does not pose any ethical problems for many, as they are beginning to turn to the large population of Latin Americans living below the poverty line. An article in the guardian.uk notes:

"Around seven in 10 Latin Americans live on less than $9 (£4.61) a day. It may not sound like much, but aggregated together and you have yourself an estimated $510bn market."

Some of these efforts are detailed in the article, and some appear to be aimed at profiting from endevors that also are beneficial to the poor communities in which they are targeted - medical clinics for instance. However, a quote in the article may be more instructive of the true nature of these efforts - to profit by any means possible.

"Rafael Danieluc, marketing director of Nestlé Peru, confirms enthusiastically "The real opportunity for growth for our company is in the lowest social economic group.""

Read the rest of the article here.

photo credit: human trafficking project