Neuromarketing: Can It Ever Be Ethical?

The majority of this academic year I have spent researching into neuromarketing as a means to improve how smaller brands can interact with their audiences when it may be more difficult for them to be seen or heard above the bigger brands that can afford large amounts of ad space.

Further to this research I've looked into the ethics of neuromarketing and whether or not it is viable on a large scale due to the amount of information our brain processes subconsciously, changing our perceptions on a product or brand without us realising how and why it has happened.

The marketing world has always embraced change, and immersed themselves in any new techniques that can prod the general public towards thinking a certain way about a brand or product in order to make them buy it. But if neuromarketing is fully accepted it could potentially have a profound effect on our society as a whole, in essence we could become slaves to a brand without even knowing it. 

Research has shown that the bulk of our decisions made lie without our subconscious brain, with the conscious mind only playing a small part in the grand scheme of our lives. How ethical can something be considered to be when we aren't even aware of the long lasting effects it has on our own minds?

For centuries there has been the idea of the 'rational consumer' one who makes their decisions on spending money purely on a conscious level through rationality and logic, however, neuroscience and behavioural economics is proving this idealistic model to be entirely false. Human beings do not make rational decisions when it comes to spending; products aren't just bought from the best company, our money is spent when we are triggered to do so through marketing and advertising. 

The question now is whether regulations will be put in place in regards to neuromarketing in a similar way that companies aren't allowed to have false claims in their advertising. One would hope that markers and the government would be concerned enough about the freedom of thought for the masses  - considering they're consumers themselves - to keep a close eye on the way in which neuromarketing is used before we're turned into a mass of consumer zombies.

Listening to: Feelin Myself - Nicki Minaj & Beyonce