As many people have pointed out, even the most worldly among us live in tiny bubbles generally filled with people who are more like us than not. So every once in a while, it's nice to be startled by something unexpected--something that forces you to perhaps consider the world in a new way.
As startling things so often do, these facts I happened upon made me think about advertising and the cloistered world-view we often employ when we create work.
First the facts: According to Helen Simpson in "Granta" (2008), 95% of the world's population has never been on a plane. There are two-billion flights taken each year by the remaining 5% (or 335 million) people on Earth.
I guess what struck me about that 95% figure is how myopic I've become. (After all, if you go to any airport it seems like 95% of the world is crowded in there all waiting for a bag of stale pretzels or to be molested by a Republican law-maker.) We write ads for people like ourselves. People who think nothing of hopping on a plane for a long weekend.
I realize that the 5% of the population that flies probably has 90% of the world's wealth. Therefore, that's who we're speaking to. No real conclusion here, just something I'm ruminating on.
