Does neuromarketing trick your brain? An introduction to the ethics of neuromarketing

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 1,8, University of Applied Sciences Groningen, language: English, abstract: As a consequence of the advanced preoccupation with the human brain during the last years, the long displaced subconscious has moved back into the focus of researchers¿ attention. In the late 1990ies, Gary Zaltman detected that ¿subliminal motivations¿ play a major role in decision-making processes like purchase decisions. Brought forth under the less threatening term of ¿the implicit¿, the subconscious, which is the preserve of approximately 95% of our thoughts and mental stirrings, became a key concept again for neuroscientists, neuroeconomists and finally neuromarketers.

Neuromarketing is a conglomeration of not only so recent disciplines, among them marketing, market research, brain research, cultural studies and psychology. It can be defined as the analysis of the neuronal effects of sales-promoting measures. It is based on the assumption that there are no merely rational procedures in the human brain for what reason marketing, which rests upon the verbal presentation of sales arguments, cannot create a powerful brand association and is thereby not likely to stand out from the multitude of commercials customers are faced with. Instead, neuromarketing focuses less on rational arguments or the formalities of advertising but it aspires to create a strong response and meaning in the customers¿ heads.

The tools by which neuromarketers try to directly address the recipients¿ subconscious are the four so-called ¿codes¿ or ¿cues¿: language, stories, symbols and senses. These codes operate as a bridge between the product and profound motivations like harmony, domination and stimulation.

These kinds of ¿implicit¿ or ¿subliminal¿ communication strategies were firstly conveyed to a broader public already in 1957 when Vance Packard published his bestseller ¿The Hidden Persuaders¿. It referred to a faked study by James Vicary who had claimed that he increased the sale of cola and popcorn in a cinema by using consciously imperceptible flashes of advertising. Although the experiment turned out to be nothing but a hoax for Vicary¿s marketing business, the American public was startled. It was the starting point of a stormy debate about the ethicality of neuromarketing which is, today, more relevant than ever because fundamental advances in the exploration of the brain are occurring faster and faster.