NEUROMARKETING

**N E U R O M A R K E T I N G**
 * Our subconscious desires stem from ingrained evolutionary reactions to our environment. Marketers and scientists are teaming up and using brain wave tools to manipulate our instinctive human reactions and neurological tendencies for commercial purposes. Neuromarketing provides physical proof about what we want and need. This groundbreaking process has wide, erring and unknown consequences to the individual consumer in society. **

//"Even if the debate is not settled, neuromarketing needs to remain under surveillance. Because, if badly used, some of the neuroscience applications could deal a new blow to personal freedoms." [|(//Neuromarketing, citizens under the influence//])// __**WHAT IS IT?** __

//hey Say: //  [|NeuroFocus] Inc. collaborates neuroscience expertise with marketing to enhance the methods of understanding consumer thought, emotion, and behavior. The company is the first to introduce a mobile, wireless EEG measurement headset called MYND. It is used to capture precise brain wave activity on a consumer’s deep subconscious. Market researchers use this information to translate it into valuable marketing strategies.

In [|this video], A.K. Pradeep, the CEO of NeuroFocus explains how EEG brainwave analysis works.

Pradeep (2010) found “our senses take in about 11 million bits of information every second. Our conscious brain-the part in thinking of which we are aware of thinking- at best, only processes about 40 bits of information per second. The rest is processed subconsciously” (p. 4). SO…Neuromarketers ultimate goal is to find a way to get into that 40 bits of consciousness.

=__** IS IT BENEFICIAL? ** __=

//hey Say: // Classical marketing techniques like questionnaires and focus groups are biased. According to Olivier Ouiller, a positive aspect of neuromarketing is that it is nonverbal. We are not asked what we think. Instead we are provided with results that show where in our brain and how often we respond to various stimuli.

Our brain plays the lead role in market research. Traditional media research does not guarentee the success of a product and has cost us billions of dollars in the process. Neuromarketers believe they can help advertising agencies and product developers save money, time, and energy by using neurological testing with devices like MYND to go right to the source-our subconscious-for answers in hopes for more effective marketing strategies.

Neuroscientists use MRI's (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to measure the frequency, location, and timing of neural activity in response to stimuli such as a commercial, brand, or advertisement. Attention and emotion are easier to capture than memory. In accordance with media marketing, positive results and identification of activity responses should show a high level of attention, fluctuating emotion (since high emotion can lead to a 'burn out') and for memory, brain activity that is high in the beginning but moreso at the end, shows that the consumer is more likely to walk away remembering that ad. This is good news for companies who place their ads at the //end// of a message, or crucial information so they can alter their marketing techniques to better target consumers.

>>>>> **// - Olivier Ouiller and A.K. Pradeed // ** >>>>>
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">// "There is now a billion dollar industry based around brain science...neuromarketing makes every dollar efficient." //
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">// "Everyone is on a budget today so marketers must work very hard to convince us that they have something worthy enough of our money, our time and attention." **- A.K. Pradeep** //


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">// “Are you seduced enough by the trailer to go watch the movie, the promo to watch the show, the ad to buy the product? Since people have a difficult time articulating these emotions, we precisely extract those emotions from the subconscious...where the brand truly decides." **- A.K. Pradeep** //

__**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">WHY DO WE THINK THAT WAY? **__


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Our subconscious desires stem from ingrained evolutionary reactions to our environment. **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Imagine yourself watching a commercial while hooked up to MYND. Your results show high and positive levels of memory recall and emotional response. You may then ask, why do I still choose //**not to**// purchase the product? What component is missing?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The missing component is what neuromarketers are tapping into. Through brain wave tools they track our preconscious neural patterns in order to further stimulate our innate and irresistible urges-our **reptilian complex**.

// **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">" In the deep of the human brain there exists a very ancient layer called the Reptilian Brain (Reptilian complex), which controls the most instinctive behavior of the human being. This Video explains the nature, origin and devastating repercussions in the society due to the constant over-activation of our Reptilian complex." ** //

**__NEUROMARKETING AND THE INDIVIDUAL IN SOCIETY__** <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">How does it make you feel that companies are learning how to decipher to what degree your sphere of emotions, sensations, and rationalizations trigger product consumption? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Furthermore, how does it make you feel that companies now have the capability to craft inescapable media messages to potentially shift purchasing tendencies? How do we know if they are already doing so?

//<span style="color: green; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">"Will neuromarketing quickly become yesterday’s technological fad? Will it give us tastier food, better movies, and more beautiful buildings? Or will neuromarketing violate us like we have never experienced before, robbing us of our privacy and freedom of choice, controlling our brains while we waltz about in ignorance?" (NeuroKUZ p. 1 para. 7) //


 * ISSUES CONCERNING PRIVACY AND ETHICS:**

//<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">I SAY, // <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Since neuromarketing is still groundbreaking and unfamiliar to us, we cannot necessarily conclude that it can //fully// assist in unveiling the mysteries of human buying behavior; however, the fact that it is a possibility and is being researched and practiced makes neuromarketing controversial and unnerving.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">//"We are being manipulated in the most insiduous way." - Kalle Lasn//

//<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">I SAY, // <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Decoding our deep subconscious in order to pinpoint our inner most desires can most certainly be dangerous. It can be considered unethical and a serious invasion of privacy if they manipulate the results to be used as marketing guidelines. Neuromarketing is especially harmful towards vulnerable children and to people with compulsive disorders (specifically compulsive consumers).

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">[|EthicMark]: Advertising that Uplifts the Human Spirit and Society, was founded by Hazel Henderson. Collaborating with the [|World Business Academy], their projects call attention to the unethical practice of neuromarketing as it undermines our core values of freedom and aptitude. EthicMark encourages Congress to investigate the commercial and political strategies of neuromarketing so the public can learn which companies and political candidates are using this form of propaganda to manipulate the unsuspecting consumer and voter.

**CONCLUDING THOUGHT**

= // I SAY ...it is up to the individual in society as a responsible consumer to decide whether or not neuromarketing is beneficial or threatening. Either way, it is critical that we stay informed and aware of this explosive marketing trend. Furthermore, while consumer purchasing power may be at the heart of these technological advancements; it is up to the persons **behind** those advancements to keep the consumer at heart.// = **Created by, Natalie Cipolle--**