They say that neuromarketing can one day even find out what the consumer desires and wishes for, better than what the consumer himself would be able to do. Do you think such a scenario is realistic?
Neuromarketing is a relatively young field. In the last decade or so, peer reviewed experiments have provided key insights that have helped us understand the neural mechanisms of attention, self-relevance of an offer, how the brain assesses the value or utility of a decision and ultimately chooses to engage or ignore an offer. However, more research is needed to confirm some of the early conclusions.
There has always been some or the other debate on the ethics of all this. In some researches related to neuromarketing, researchers were apparently able to elicit private information (passwords, pins etcetera) from the subjects using brain mapping. That’s raised some hackles and some quarters are questioning the unsolicited intrusion of privacy that may occur in this field. How do you feel this would pan out in the future?
I am not aware of the research you are quoting nor do I think it is possible to retrieve such information via neuromarketing methods. I do think that neuromarketing professionals have to follow a code of ethics and I am one of the main authors of the code of ethics adopted by the Neuromarketing Science and Business Association. Hence, I believe that the neuromarketing practices cannot be threatening to that extent as described by you.
But do we see this field as being the future of today’s market research? And does this have the potential to completely replace market research to determine human behaviour more precisely than traditional techniques?
I think neuromarketing research provides critical insights that are not possible to generate using conventional methods. Therefore, I recommend that marketers include neuromarketing methods and mix them with other research protocols to the extent that they can afford to do so.
Every new area that has a radical nature (aka stem cell research) has run foul of powers that be. How do you believe the legal and political ramifications would be?
As long as research is conducted according to the highest ethical standards by competent researchers, I don’t see any reason why neuromarketing research should face legal and political resistance. However, we need a continuous endeavour to ensure that these highest standards are never compromised in any situation.
Leaving aside brain mapping, are there other nouveau methods to determine consumer buying behaviour accurately?
I believe that learning how consumers make decisions can in fact help us to create a society in which we are more mindful of the risk and excesses of consumerism. For instance, I am currently investigating the neurophysiological effect of advertising messages on adolescents because I believe that regulation does not protect young consumers adequately from stealth marketing techniques, especially for products like tobacco, alcohol and junk food.
