The Pop Fan Theory!

Disclaimer - The following post is about a theory that has been giving the author sleepless nights for the past few days. The research and statistics are purely hypothetical and are not attributed to anything on the web or elsewhere. Cynics and people who cant understand good humor are forewarned.

We all use so many products in our lifetime that it becomes too difficult to keep count. Not that it really matters, but it does gives you an idea of the kind of evolution that we tend to take for granted. Take for example - cars. I remember way back when I was little, the kind of cars that kissed the road were very different from those that we see today. They were rather boxy in shape and "beauty" was a word that only a rare breed had the privilege of being called. If you look at cars today, they are trendier, a whole lot more attractive and technologically more advanced. So, the whole "product evolution" thingie makes for an interesting study. The same can be applied to shoes, watches and almost everything that you can think of.

But have you ever wondered about one product thats so ubiquitous and almost spans a lifetime. Yes, the fan!

I've always wondered how fan manufacturers make their money. Its interesting because you almost never replace a fan. Majority of the people buy fans (the ceiling variety in particular) while constructing or renovating buildings. Some of these are also passed on to future generations. So that actually gives very little scope for these manufacturers to make any money. Lets do a little hypothesis to understand the situation better - say of the 1.02 billion people in India, about 30% of these stay in cities and the rest 70% in villages. Out of that 70%, say 50% of them have pucca houses and have access to electricity. Putting down the relevant numbers and doing the arithmetic , you'll find thats its a very small percentage. And for a product that usually lasts a lifetime, it can be a cause of worry for the manufacturers. So, how do these manufacturers survive? Well, it really simple - apply "The Pop Fan Theory", which is as follows..

The Pop Fan Theory [beta 0.1] states that the construction of buildings is proportional to the rise in population which inturn creates the need for more fans.

In other words...

Rise in population = more homes = need for fans = more sales

Inference : If you want to sell more fans, increase the population!

Well, I'm not going to delve into how these faceless manufacturers are conspiring the "increasing population" bit, lest I get into any political turmoil. However, feel free to add to the TPFT and refine it.