Neuromarketing

Introduction

Marketers and marketers often consider the suggestions and responses of customers in advertisements. Several approaches have been developed to help investigate and understand the user. Traditional marketing tools such as random sampling for surveys and the filling of customer questionnaires for their goods (Brat 1). While this approach has collected some valuable knowledge, there are also weaknesses. That's why advertisers are using people's brain reactions to ads and other similar messages. Neuromarketing is the new and most successful approach to marketing. It is free of bias relative to another way of collecting knowledge on the market. Neuromarketing employs the use of high-tech brain scanning technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure the involuntary response to various types of stimuli such as brand, containers, advertising in addition to other marketing elements (Brat 1). With the technology involved, the method bypasses the consumer opinion, which always differs from the real response to stimuli and goes straight to monitor our cognitive response in the brain. After numerous research in the market, study shows that consumers are not in opposition to tell what they want the thoughts that drive their behavioral response is hidden deep down the subconscious mind. However, the thoughts are always visual that’s why by use of visual images and consumer metaphors one can examine the mental shapes that power consumer thinking and behavior. Therefore, the paper aims to discuss in details the Ethics, the credibility, and the future of Neuromarketing as well as the use of fMRI technology and brain scan images in Neuromarketing technique.

Ethical Issues

Is the use of Neuromarketing technique ethical? The fact that Neuromarketing involves scanning of the brain it has raised many ethical issues. Most people are afraid that use of Neuromarketing technique against the consumer for the benefit of the organizations (Stanton et al. 5). Since the technology examines our cognitive response directly from the brain, fears are that most firms may adopt it for economic gains by applying subconscious messages into our daily life and influencing us to buy their products (Brammer and Michael 1015). Therefore, the methodology is seen unethical, and it is under opposition by many. For instance, an organization based in the USA known as Commercial Alert went petitioned to the US Congress to terminate Neuromarketing while arguing that researcher might use the neuroscience for commercial gain or spread political propaganda.

In addition to the unethical use of the information gained from neuroscience the problem of security also arises. The security of the people who are adversely affected by the research as well as the consumers. In cases where the researchers discover an anomaly in the brain while performing the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, they might not be in a position to know what to do since they are not medical experts. The ethical dilemma arises as to whether it is the responsibility of the company to inform the volunteer of the findings or not. On the other hand, the finding might be a false positive. The controversy surrounding Neuromarketing is because of lack of ethical limits, lack of transparency, little knowledge about complex brain functionality, and the use of neuroscientific technology without proper knowledge in neuroscience (Stanton et al. 7).

Future of Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing has a bright future in the marketing field. The main barrier to the progress of Neuromarketing was the availability and the cost of equipment used for the research. The high cost of equipment made the overall cost of Neuromarketing to be very high as compared to traditional methods of marketing (Dooley and Roger 54). Therefore, Neuromarketing was requiring substantial marketing budgets and hence eliminating medium and small-sized companies from utilizing this marketing technique. More so the lab-based nature of the research limits it to a specific location and hence not scalable in geographical location. The major barriers to the development of Neuromarketing are now being demolished by an innovative enterprise that is developing modern, portable brain-computer interfaces, and eye and facial tracking devices (Brat 1). When combined with advances in mobile technology it provides researchers with the chance to move out of the labs and experience real situations in the supermarket. The availability of easy to use, portable, and low-cost equipment means that the new web-based remote testing services are emerging. Therefore, services that were initially used for bug testing in software are now applied in neuro research. It is evident that Neuromarketing has a bright future indeed.

The use of fMRI Technology in Neuromarketing

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology is a useful application neuromarketing technique.To understand the cognitive functionality of human beings researchers uses various techniques to observe the brain. In Neuromarketing, researchers use the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) techniques to monitor the brain functionality of a person (Lehrer and Jonah 1). Functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to examine the changes in bloodstream and oxygen levels because of the cognitive activity. The method gives the scientist the power to separate the framework of neurons about elements of the mind. Mapping the response of the brain to different dimensions of the product is made possible by the aid of an fMRI scanner since different parts of the brain react differently to test, aroma, texture, sound and the appearance (Dooley and Roger 55).

Therefore, marketers observing these changes they can see the response of the consumers if they want to make changes to their products. Functional Magnetic Resonance provides the researchers with the real pictures of the neural activity that is related to vision alongside the cognitive and full feeling reaction to stimuli. Many organizations that deal with Neuromarketing are used fMRI for neuroeconomic studies, which use the innovation of cerebrum filtering to examine how people make decisions, evaluate risks and rewards. FMRI scans provide crucial behavioral information of consumers such as predicting market level music deal and philanthropy gifts. The use of brain-scanned images from the fMRI technology has positively influenced the progress of Neuromarketing as a marketing research tool.

Reliability of Neuromarketing as a commercial practice

Neuromarketing as a method of marketing is reliable and credible since it has raised the standard of marketing to a different level. It is rational to agree that Neuromarketing is a credible technique to use in commercial practices. To begin with, it has enhanced the use of effective packaging. Research shows that the attractiveness of the packet is what matters and not the content (Lewis et al. 683). The neuroimaging of the consumer affects whether the customer will be willing to purchase a product or not. Therefore, recently neuroimaging is put in use by advertisers and marketers to reimage and change the packaging of their product. More so many organizations are spending more time and resources to design that effective package that will attract the eye of the consumer.

However, many presentations and designing of packaging use Neuromarketing techniques. More so color being the key factor in neuroimaging many organizations are associating specific colors with their brands. For example, Coca-Cola Company has adopted the red as its marketing color (Dooley and Roger 54). The correct choice of color plays a critical part in the success of a product in the market. Hence, Neuromarketing is credible such that it helps in branding of a product, the design of a product, and innovation, the effectiveness of commercial practices such as advertising, and decision-making (Lewis et al. 683). In the advertisement, neuro-advertising is the most efficient method of utilizing the human mental functioning in the market setting. In the traditional conventional method, science was used to study the consumer's test and preference. However, Neuromarketing concentrates on the study of individual’s response to particular stimuli. The results are scrutinized and used to conclude the test and preference of the customers. The method is effective since it conveys the subconscious preference of the consumer that cannot be shown by conduct.

The main purpose of the Neuromarketing experiment is to build focus on marketing new products and shopping conditions, enhancing publicizing of efforts, and focusing on the thoughts behind the consumer’s preference for exact brands. The findings of a Neuromarketing research help marketers and advertisers understand the client's psychological, enthusiastic, and mental action influence on their purchasing choice. Neuromarketing employs the use of various approaches in the market such as the consultative selling approach. The approach recommends that the marketers or advertisers have to understand the shopping experience of the customers from the moment they go to a store to the time they exit since it enhances the client’s engagement handle that has long-term effects. Many stimuli are present as one enters a store without forgetting attraction to other customers, promotions, items, and the entire advertising environment (Dooley and Roger 60). With the Neuromarketing information, an organization is in a position to market their product in the most attractive way that will capture the interest of the consumer with little ease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in the market today, Neuromarketing is the most ideal, reliable, and efficient marketing tool. With the growth of technology, Neuromarketing is also improving in efficiency. Many marketing companies to influence consumers subliminally on what products to purchase are using this method of research. The commercial use of the neuroscience technology has brought up many controversies in the society with various organizations petitioning for the termination of the use of Neuromarketing. From the literature, we have seen that there is potential for Neuromarketing to progress into a product precision machine that discloses the subconscious customer information. Since Neuromarketing eradicates some of the ethical issues that Neuromarketing and improves the portability of the devices used in research, it cements the future of the marketing tool. Many factors influence the will of a consumer to purchase a product. Therefore, advertisers should pay attention to the color, size, and design of the package so as to effectively market their product.

Work Cited

Brammer, Michael. "Brain Scam?" Nature Neuroscience 7.10 (2004): 1015-1015

Brat, Ilan. "The emotional quotient of soup shopping." Wall Street Journal 17 (2010): 1.

Dooley, Roger. Brainfluence: 100 ways to persuade & convince consumers with neuromarketing. John Wiley & Sons, (2011): 53-62

Lehrer, Jonah. "Picturing our thoughts." Boston Globe (2008). 1-4

Lewis, David, and D. Phil. "Market researchers make growing use of brain imaging." Nature Neuroscience 7.7 (2004): 683.

Stanton, Steven J., Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Scott A. Huettel. "Neuromarketing: Ethical implications of its usage and potential misuse." Journal of Business Ethics (2016): 1-13.