I do not know if this practice still exists, but in my younger days, all fresh marketing executives of Hindustan Lever had to spend eight weeks in a village called Etah in Uttar Pradesh in the home of a rural consumer to understand their needs, behaviour, consumption habits and aspirations. These lower-middle-class homes were very different from the urban homes that the new recruits came from; they just had bare essentials and were devoid of most comforts.
