It’s open season on your brain cells, woo hoo!
By Michael Beck
We already swim in a 24/7 sea of commercialism, but apparently we’re just not flooded enough. One of the latest buzzes in marketing comes from a whole new frontier in how to sell us stuff we probably don’t need and that – up till now at least – we didn’t realize we had to have.
Welcome to “neuromarketing.” Powered by gigabucks in research funding, this pioneering field mines the latest discoveries in neuropsychiatry and cognitive science for techniques to bypass our rational decision making. It targets instead people’s subconscious neural reward pathways, the ancient urges that helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors to survive in a world of scarcity. MRI studies are central to this research, for they probe the subtlest responses – sensimotor, cognitive, and affective – to marketing stimuli.
You might ask how this is any different from the “subliminal” advertising we’ve always heard about. Certainly the goal remains unchanged: How to circumvent those annoying defenses that consumers throw up against shopping till they drop – things like rational thought and mindfulness.
The difference lies in the enormous recent leaps in understanding how the brain functions. The science has moved far beyond crude manipulation such as flashing subliminal messages on the TV screen. Marketers have crafted the latest knowledge into every nuance of their offerings, from harmonics in their ad jingles that pull at subconscious yearnings, to product placement that evokes peer acceptance, to the subtleties of packaging that whisper of wealth and sexual attractiveness. These approaches aren’t exactly new, of course. But no longer are they the result of shrewd guesswork, they are now based on even shrewder hard science.
Is neuromarketing already stalking us at the shopping mall? You can bet your bottom dollar (the same one that advertisers want you to spend) that it is and that they don’t want you to realize it. So as you surf the sea of post-holiday shopping and sales, you get to ride this new wave. And while the hype and glitter foams around you, see if you can look through it to detect marketers’ invisible fingers probing deep into your brain to remold it into their image of the good life rather than yours.
Naturally I’m not weighing in against shopping per se, only against the impulsive, unexamined sort that gladdens the hearts and fills the coffers of the most unprincipled marketers. That’s where the Postconsumers mindset can help you. In this ongoing arms race where advertisers deploy ever more sophisticated enticements, nothing defends your core values – and your pocketbook – better than activating your inner BS (manipulation) detector.
Therefore…
When you feel that piece of bling
Tug at your heartstring
…check out your subconscious. If you detect primeval longings for security and acceptance being stirred up, you might consider whether this item fulfills your true goals or needs. Chances are it won’t, and the neuromarketers’ loss will be your gain.
What do you think? We welcome your comments either below or on facebook.
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Image above right:The brain on Neuromarketing
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