The busines model of lead gen is $/per Y. Y is typical a matrix, with quality as the main variation. In plain english, high quality leads are worth a premium. The business of assessing quality, at scale, is through indirect statistical techniques (ie, loose correlations of observed characteristics to perceived quality). "Not Black" is a piece of observed data that loosely correlates with higher quality for many high-net worth customers in the following market segments: ebay, air-bnb, fashion, dating, and real estate. The nexus of {fashion, dating, real-estate} is pretty strong if you consider the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Alternatively, you are talking the more important parts of a hierarchy of needs pyramid. Or put another way, this is the stuff rich people are most likely to "irrationally" throw money at. Expensive clubs, fancy cars, and flashy homes. Precisely the target market for 1st class travel, which is not business class (obviously).

This is a devils advocate position, but its worth thinking through. It (was) not meant to be just a "shock and awe" type of analysis just to get a rise out of people.

The links to original research are trivially available.

But if this type of comment makes you feel special, no worries.

http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-054_e3c04a...

http://kentbrew.github.io/profiling-atherton/