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Using Neuromarketing to Sell Products
Posted by
michael
on Wed Dec 04, 2002 09:45 AM
from the you-know-you-want-it dept.
from the you-know-you-want-it dept.
Cyan Peppa writes "Marketplace on CBC, that's a Canadian station for you Americans, had an interesting story on neuromarketing tonight. '...Neuromarketing uses traditional neuroscientific methods to determine the drivers behind consumer choices. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers map brain patterns of participants, to reveal how they respond to a particular advertisement or product. This information can be used as the basis for new advertising campaigns and branding techniques...'
Now, I'm no genius, but isn't something like this wrong? Personally, I don't like advertisements tapdancing on the chest of my own free will...What do you think?"
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Using Neuromarketing to Sell Products
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Better Mind Control Today (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is that they are trying to monitor the stimulus response mechanism of the people involved.
I do not know of any scientific study or body of knowledge that directly studies the pathology of the stimulus response mechanism as a mechanism by itself. You have to go outside the mainstream sciences to see anything looking at the area. Psychoanlysis, for example, does not study this, and addresses it indirectly if ever. Psychiatry, with it's love affair for medication, is more of the same.
In fact this is the first such study that I have even heard of, and the use of it is not theraputic at all. Unless the therapy is that of weight reduction of an obese wallet.
A therapy would be interested in looking at stimulus response mechanisms, and learning to help people whose mechanisms are out of whack. {example: I knew a gal whose boy friends, each in turn, all that the same first name. creepy)
This is no such thing. It is research for better mind control of the consumer today.
You would thing that this would be a fruitful area for research if you actually wanted to help folks. But the money seems to be focused elsewhere. I wonder why?
This sounds strangely familiar! (Score:5, Funny)
[The dream ends. Fry wakes up.]
Fry: Oh what a weird dream! I'll never get back to sleep!
[He falls asleep.]
[Scene: Planet Express: Lounge. The crew are sat around a table.]
Fry: So you're telling me they broadcast commercials into people's dreams?
Leela: Of course.
Fry: But, how is that possible?
Farnsworth: It's very simple. The ad gets into your brain just like this liquid gets into this egg. [He holds up an egg and injects it with liquid. The egg explodes.] Although in reality it's not liquid, but gamma radiation.
Fry: That's awful. It's like brainwashing.
Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts and written on the sky. But not in dreams. No sirree!
easy way around this scheme (Score:4, Funny)
then they will start showing you ads with b00bies on them...
yes, i know, im a genius !
Scan my brain (Score:3, Insightful)
Um... welcome to the modern world (Score:4, Insightful)
There isn't necessarily anything sinister about it.
Re:Um... welcome to the modern world (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Um... welcome to the modern world (Score:5, Insightful)
What we are really talking about is a group of people scanning peoples brain patterns in reaction to product images to find what can actually make us "behave the way they want [us] to" (direct quote)
There is something wrong about that. It kind of reminds me of the whole Snow Crash thing really.
Advertising is just a way to make something seem like it is worth more than it is. It sucks.
Re:Um... welcome to the modern world (Score:5, Interesting)
I grew up with a lot of respect for advertizing, and as an art, I still do respect it. However, I've learned that like all profitable art, the field is mostly clogged with hacks.
Advertising need not be aimed at making a product look better than it is. In fact, some advertising does just the oposite (remember the "time to make the donuts" commercials? they actually tried to make donuts look as un-glamarous as possible, it was about service and dedication to the customer).
There are several kinds of ad:
1. The promise of return on investment (you will make money, or you will get babes, or your hair will grow back, peer aproval, etc). Tangible rewards promised. These are sometimes true and accurate, but often spurious.
2. The promise of instant gratification (mmm.... look at the tasty burger... do you really want to WAIT for someone to cook a non-fast-food burger?) These are often quite accurate, but far more manipulative than any other form of advertizing. It's also easy to combine this with the previous catagory.
3. The promise of quality. It's been said that you can sell a man his own shit as long as you tell him he's buying the highest quality shit. The best of this sort of ad, IMHO, was the razor ads where the guy talked about how the razor was so good he bought the company. Testimonials are one way you promise quality. Comparisons and tests are another (take the Pepsi Challenge, which was one of the most strikingly honest campaigns I've ever seen... people really did like the taste of Pepsi better when sampled fairly).
There are others, but that's most of them in a nutshell. Now, here's a little trick you can do. Watch the ads. PAY ATTENTION. Think to yourself, "why are you using this particular tactic?" For example, if you're promising me babes, why AREN'T you promising me quality? What other competing products CAN offer quality?
If you promise me quality, have you honestly compared yourself to the competition? Do you have to resort to tricks like "leading brand" (one of my favorites. you compare yourself to "leading brand" by picking your competition's bargain product that you and they both know is crap, while ignoring their "premium product"). If so, why? Is there a competitor that's actually higher quality?
These tricks force your perspective out of the hole that the commercial tries to channel you into. Once you do that, you can start to actually benefit from commercials!
The next trick is harder, and involves some actuall hard questions. You need to start asking yourself: "do I even want this class of product in the first place?"
I have no problem with ads for tampons, pads, etc. because I think most women will agree they are a good and necessary product. Imrpovements in that product are often a good thing and improve quality of life for many women. Since it's a stable market, the products actually do have to compete on improvements to the product, so everyone wins.
On the other hand, extruded cheese snack #147 is *not* something that you need in your life. The ad is still successful even if you end up buying the competition because it has convinced you that you need to to buy extruded cheese snacks at all, ever. The ad has essentially created a new market space, and just as Linux vendors don't much care which Linux you go with as long as you stop running Windows (it all serves to expand and validate the Linux market) the cheese snack vendors just want you to avoid asking "why do I need a cheese snack?"
Garbage voodoo marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Garbage voodoo marketing (Score:5, Funny)
Market analysis (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, I dislike advertisements as much as the next guy, but what differentiates me (and most of hte geek community) from the next guy is that fact that I know how to look at an ad and know when I should and should not listen to what's being said. When someone watching an ad is aware of the techniques used to create the ad, it's not very likely to work.
Example: The annoying beer commercials designed to associate their beer with having fun. I know that's what they are doing, so I know to ignore the commercial.
I seriously doubt any ad developed using this technique will be so effective as to hinder my ability to logically conclude whether or not the product being advertised is actually worth spending money on.
Re:Market analysis (Score:5, Interesting)
What they are really trying to do is figure out WHY people respond they way they do, and come up with advertisements that highlight their best selling points.
Associating beer with fun is stupid. Associating beer with a PARTY is very good. What they want isn't for you to say, I'm having fun lets have a beer, instead they'd like you to think, hmmm big group of people coming over for football, I should get Budweiser. They want situational association with their product (Nasty stain? Tide works good for that, but wouldn't you rather put some Shout on that?)
The best marketing plays into those associations, then society advertises for them:
Stain removal gel that prevents stains from setting? No, Shout.
Adhesive gauze strip?
Acetametaphine?
Chlorine Bleach?
Pressed Chicken Strips?
Facial Tissue?
Visual associations are better than word associations though, even with their name. They've done studies that show when ask to name a battery, more than 50% of their study will say Energizer, most likely because it keeps going and going and going and going. When asked to DRAW a battery or describe one, (Do it yourself real quick) most of them draw a black round cylinder with a golden cap at the positive end. The Coppertop, Duracel. When people 'think' battery they think Energizer, but when they REACH for a battery, they picture a Duracel.
That is what the scientists want to tap into.
Well technically... (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally, I don't like advertisements tapdancing on the chest of my own free will...What do you think
If they're able to build advertising to get you to buy the product from this "technology" you really don't have free will do you? They're just abusing you of the idea that you have free will.
Self-control (Score:4, Insightful)
How is this different? (Score:3, Insightful)
The only downside is that this may put some advertising people on the street. Boo hoo.
Honestly... (Score:5, Funny)
I think you need a nice refreshing Coke.
*GASP*! (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, except in Microsoft's case.
Sounds a lot like... (Score:4, Interesting)
...the subliminal advertising that some theatre owners tried back in, what, the 50's or 60's. By flashing a single frame of a heaping bucket of buttery popcorn every once in a while during the movie they were able to convince the viewers that they should buy some popcorn during the intermission (remember those?). This practice was ruled illegal. I'm hoping that this ``neurological marketing'' is seen as the same thing as subliminal advertising. In fact, I'd bet that the marketing folks are really just trying to bring that idea back but are wrapping it up in a new name to fool people into believing that it's not so as to avoid the backlash they encountered in the past.
Bad Science (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow, this is right up there with folks that tell you they can analyze alpha waves and tell you something about depression or your overall psychological health. (alpha waves are real and result from thalamo-cortical relays induced by relaxed eyes-closed wakefullness, but there is no evidence in the scientific record that indicates people can determine psychological health from their analysis).
The problem with work like this is that cortical patterns of activation are an emergent phenomenon that differs widely among different people which may reveal why DARPA is interested in "fingerprinting" brainwave patterns. But seriosly folks, lets have some studies that indicate emotive components can be accurately predicted from functional magnetic resonance imaging before we start foisting this crap on the unsuspecting public. (I presume they are using fMRI as plain old MRI simply looks at structure based on reconstruction of atomic "spins". Perhaps they are also using MRS or magnetic resonance spectroscopy as well, but I doubt it.)
Slowly, the Matrix gets to you... (Score:3, Funny)
Right now they catch up desires and wishes. Why not to think they soon they glue your mounth with a tube and pomp you with dogfood? And drill your skull to hammer your brain with the idea that you're eating the best dish on Earth?
Ads anti-capitalist? (Score:4, Insightful)
This seems to have more in common with communist propaganda than with core values of capitalism...
2c worth.
Ah... but you forgot one thing grasshopper!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Communist system has one hypnotizer...
Free Market system put hypnotizers in direct competition with each other!
I take your 2c, now you senseless!!! HA! HA! HA! Old Hong Kong Joke!
Not MRI (Score:4, Informative)
Check here [fmri.org] -- the first image you see is an overlay of functional hot spots (color) over a regular MRI (B&W). While on the topic of medical acronyms, there is not "CAT scan" anymore, it's CT for computed tomography. The earliest machines could only do axial cuts, hence "A" in CAT. But the public and TV shows like saying CAT. I used to work around CT, too, almost 20 years ago.
I'm jealous because I did research on psychiatric patients with MRI ten years ago, which was limited to detected tumors, atrophy, and other gross physical changes. That's very useful -- people with mental illnes have in some cases revealed what appears to be long-term degeneration marked by atrophy (shrinkage) of relevant lobes --but does not have the amazing possibilities of instantly detecting changes in brain activity. This is quite a bit short of reading your mind! Just 10 years ago the imaging MRI was a stunning achievement, now we're spoiled and moving into the next phase.
Is this research for marketing purposes invasive? Nah. It's just an (expensive) attempt to further quantify reaction to marketing, as has been done up to now with questionnaries and the like. It's not sneaky like subliminal advertising [google.com], which didn't work anyway despite being a compelling idea and making for a great episode of Columbo (conspiracy theorists disagree [searchlores.org]; scientists generally don't; but advertisers and maybe Republicans [salon.com] still try it anyway).
Anyway, advertisers have long had a general idea (sex) of (sex) what (sex) moves (sex) product (send me money). The marketers looking upon consumers as a horde of cattle, that's kind of patronizing, but it's nothing new.
And after much brain scanning... (Score:5, Funny)
What the hell is wrong with this country? (Score:3, Insightful)
Science reporting misrepresents once again (Score:5, Informative)
They are purporting that with MRI scans of people's brains they can "read your unconscious thoughts", like some Orwellian nightmare and then pull these subconscious strings to get you to empty your wallet at the nearest GAP outlet.
Well, being myself a student of the cognitive sciences, I'd like to set a few things clear. The ability to "read thoughts" as purported by this article, while not technically false, is much more primitive than you could imagine.
An MRI of the brain can give you a picutre of what cells are most active at any given point, so you can see relatively what brain centres dominate and try to make inferences from that as to what the person is thinking. Given that our knowledge of brain function is at a very primitive level, the most useful data you can get from this type of scan is "he likes it" or "he doesn't like it". It will not tell you what images, feelings, sounds, associations are passing through the subjects head at any point, only whether they are generally positive or not. Its really no different from putting a bunch of boxes on a chart and asking the person to rate from one to ten how well they like certain things - except you get that rating directly from the brain rather than from asking the person. So in theory this ranking is more "honest" and less clouded by other factors such as social obligations, etc. which might interfere with what a person would say when asked.
The idea that this technology can be used in some Orwellian fashion to understand that secretly you are afraid of rats, or are a pedophile or like the look of women eating juicy mangoes is not going to happen anytime soon. It is unlikely that that level of analysis is ever going to be possible. Ok, end of rant.
Whose free will? (Score:4, Funny)
Your don't own your free will, you license it. And the subscription fee is due.
Weak minded Dumb Bitch (Score:3, Interesting)
But she doesn't have a problem with neuromarketing -- or any other subconscious probing.
"I think if they can find a way to help us find a way into that magic little feeling that shopping can give you -- if you do it right and you get the right thing and you don't spend too much money, hats off to them. Thank you. I think it's a service."
Since she doesn't have a problem with neuromarketing -- or any other subconscious probing, one could guess that she is quite an easy lay. Go for it /.ers! Most likely she'll overlook your pizza stained sweatpants, as long as you keep repeating, "Geek is Chic...Geek is Chic..."
It's sheepeople like these that are making world domination easy. Make sure you wear a condom when you handily take her womanhood.
Nothing new...just worse (Score:4, Informative)
Go read a Sociology textbook. There are decades of tales about cult leaders, population control, con artists, etc. Tales about power over other people.
Now go read a Management or Marketing textbook...same thing, but different jargon.
Except now, their tatics will be even more potent, as they manipulate our core humanity against us. Don't be suprised when the hopeless flocks grow even greater than before.
Other implications (Score:3, Interesting)
On second thought, it probably wouldn't take off. How would you market it?
it's not brainwashing.... (Score:3)
"The potential for good and the potential for ill are both huge here. I don't know what we will call brainwashing, but until we come up with a better term, I would suggest it's at least a kissing cousin."
"That's completely unfounded. It has nothing to do with controlling consumer thought...nothing to do with manipulating consumer thought. All we can do is observe and learn," Brighthouse's Koval says.
Yeah, observe and learn how to control their thoughts. Doesn't the potential for abuse outway the societal benefits here?
Re:whatever (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you being intentionally funny? Why do you think that "Nikes are fast?" Was there a consumer study I missed? The only one I read said that Nikes were no better than other shoes. Did you do your own experiment to come to this conclusion? Which brand of sneaker did you use as your control.
Or do you think that "Nikes are fast" because that's just umm... common knowledge? And where did that come from?
Re:whatever (Score:3, Funny)
Anyone can make a shoe because they're making a living wage, it takes real devotion to make shoes all day long for $1.80.
http://www.citinv.it/associazioni/CNMS/archivio