Author here. Great thoughts and addendum! I absolutely agree with your points. Thanks for sharing. I am hoping to only make the website better over time and add more resources. Feel free to get in touch with me through the site.
Author here. Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right about the Coke example relating strongly to marketing. Marketing is about ideas and the powerful idea with Coke is that a homeless person on the side of the street and the president of the USA purchase and consume the same product. What is even more powerful is that the president can't buy a better Coke. What if more products were like that? What if more products were that equitable?
The Free Wheelchair Mission is a very nuanced example. The organization is great and the version 2 of their wheelchair I think has embraced the mindset I am discussing. They have learned from their mistakes.
I wish they they had maybe distributed 1000 of version 1 before they went to version 2, not 700,000 of a cut-up plastic chair attached to wheels with bolts. I think in the long run they will do great.
Hey HN! I am the author. I've found that the most misleading proposition is the notion that offering a shitty product or service for free to people in shitty situations will save the world. The problem is that no one wants a shitty product! We have to change the mindset of designers, makers, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, donors, and everyone!