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David Cameron, Conservative Party leader and probable future British Prime Minister, caused heads to turn and brains to buzz with a comment he made in a recent speech at Google's UK headquarters.

"We have to remember what makes people happy, as well as what makes stock markets rise. The purely economic measure of gross domestic product, should be complemented by a concept of "general wellbeing"

This comes from the leader of Britain's Conservative Party who have always championed big business. The King of Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan Kingdom, is the only other global leader who publicly supports this type of thinking. Bhutan has an official policy on Gross National Happiness, official policy. Interestingly, in the past couple of years, Bhutan has become a choice destination for global trendsetters.

It's clear that there's something here, an idea that lies at the core of what Cameron is saying that strikes a chord with the public in a country where people are working the longest hours in Europe.

This is nothing new here for marketers who've tried to push the balance button for years, from AT&T's famous "Beach" spot in the early 90s, to BBH's latest UK campaign for Vodafone and of course, Citibank's "Live Richly", that we seem to be seeing less of these days because there's the more serious issue of identity theft to deal with.

Marketers are happy to push balance as long as it means people buying products and services that can help achieve it. However, is this the start of something new and the development of a bigger idea that questions the material culture that dominates Western life?

Way back in 2002, researchers Yankelovich where telling us something new was happening.

"For many, many people, the amount of stuff they have is literally falling out the door. People don't want more stuff. They want something more in their lives. They want and crave new satisfactions."

Maybe this was the first response to September 11th that caused people to question their priorities, but people didn't suddenly stop shopping.

With a potential future British Prime Minister bringing up the happiness debate and a former US Vice-President, Al Gore questioning consumption over conservation, the issue is now back on the table and getting some mass media attention.