To think that people are "inside" my head knowing what I want and need, before I do, just scares me. These days personal privacy is a concern with everyone wanting to know everything about you. With the advent of digital mediums such as Facebook, it is hard to hide anywhere, let alone keep your thoughts to yourself (hence why we created blogs...to keep our thoughts to ourselves right?). However, now we have to be cognizant of scientists and marketers trying to get a look at our thoughts. What we once thought of the last frontier of our privacy, our own brains, is now being invaded by companies looking for information.
As the New York Times called it in a recent article, "mind mining," companies are starting to hook people up to electronic devices that measure brain activity. The result being, that when you see something that you like in an advertisement, your brain will show increased activity and thus marketers will know what products to present to you. I find this interesting because it is essentially mapping your thoughts, or "mining" for information, to gather which brands and items you like. This is only the first step to what could be a major leap in the direction of intelligent target marketing. In the future, ads will recognize us through iris scans or facial recognition (see: future marketing way too personal) and therefore, customize marketing to specific needs.
This could be potential good or bad...On the pro side, commercials and ads will be targeted to what we would like to view. However, contrary to this advantage, our minds will be accessed by other parties. For some, including myself, that is scary. It doesn't concern me that they will know what products I like or need, but I figure if they can find out that information, what else can they discover and reveal? I have reason to believe, and I am not alone when I say, that some of my thoughts are not to be publicized...ever.
Whatever the case, being good or bad, I leave you with this last thought. If marketers have a crystal ball to the thoughts inside your head, who else has that information and how will they use it? In the meantime while you ponder over the people that might be inside your head, let the following video educated you a little further. Enjoy.
Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/business/14stream.html?_r=1
YouTube Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUzo7fhRpFY&feature=player_embedded#!
One problem I see in neuromarketing is that it is concentrated in what people want and not in what they need. This could place customers in a delicate situation, where the win-win relationship between sellers and consumers is at risk. Here is an article that I found very interesting. Marketers would have the power to see inside our brain and read our thoughts. Take a look at My Blog. I don’t want to think about those addicted to infomercials; receiving everything that they want would be too much for their credit cards.
ReplyDeleteI am opposed to the idea of Neuomarketing, but unlike the New York Times article you referred to, I don't know if it can be considered a form of "brainwashing". Scientists are trying to find out "what exactly shoppers want". While I'm sure that they can accurately measure brain waves, eye-tracking, attention span, etc., I don't think that the results of any of those tests will just spell out "THE ANSWER" to marketing that companies so desperately want. That's because there is no "answer" to marketing, and what consumers positively and negatively respond to is always changing. At the end of the day, conscious mind or subconscious mind, everyone's preferences are different and we are not all going to react the same to different marketing stimuli. My concern for Neuromarketing isn't that it has the potential to turn us into "shopping robots without our consent" (because I don't think that can ever happen) - but rather, the concern is whether it can actually be considered an invasion of privacy.. Take a look at my blog that talks more about Neuromarketing and enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteWhile I am ok with non intrusive neuromarketing, you do raise valid concerns over the other uses of this technology.
ReplyDeleteI know the government said that using technology to monitor heat movements throughout homes was illegal, as an invasion of privacy. It would be good for them to move quickly to protect the privacy of our minds.
While I do enjoy targeted ads, I agree with you that I do not want many of my thoughts known or used against me. Thank you for that different take on the issue, using an angle I had not considered!
I agree with you that it is kind of scary to think about all they can do with what's in our brains. It's like that movie with Mel Gibson "What women want" in which he ended up misuing the info he got and screwed his own life. We really need to be careful with how the information is handled but I'm sure there will be tons of regulations in terms of who and how to "study us". On the other hand, I love the idea of truly serving the customer because many times in market research studies we find what people SAY they want and not what they truly WANT. I am interested in seeing some results because imagine how researchers are going to react when they get into our brains and sometimes find out that even we don't know what we want!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how marketers are beginning to further span their knowledge and use neuromarketing to test and see what specifically a person looks at and what attracts their attention, but at the same time, this is an invasion to our privacy. I do think this will help consumers access items more easily, but as I mentioned in my blog, it is scary to know that people can get inside your brain and access information that you do not even realize you are thinking about.
ReplyDeleteAt the current time, marketers can only access information on their test subjects, but pretty soon they will be able to get into everyone's mind and see what they want and need. I don't want to sit around and allow that time to happen. The video you posted even furthers my point on people getting into your brain! Now I'm worried.
It is partially correct what you write in your blog, but apparently you write about two separate things, you would have to distinguish. The first one would be putting a certain message into someone’s (as you say) “brain”. The other part would be reading someone’s mind. Neuromarketing is used to implement a message in your mind by using certain approaches. “Reading the brain” is happening in laboratories so scientists can explain how a certain message is perceived.
ReplyDeleteRead along my blog as well that talks about messages that are put into our mind. How far is that from manipulating the customer? Where does science stand at the moment and how deep can we get into the humans brain?
So do not worry too much about dealing with a company reading messages off of your mind (brain). Your ideas and secrets will still remain yours. Sure, if you unveil that delicate information online on websites like facebook, myspace etc. marketers might take advantage of it.
I do agree that we live in a world where everything is about information and information to the deepest. It is about “knowing” the customer. As uncomfortable as it seems to us, it is happening in this particular moment. Marketers use our information to i.e. customize the ads that show up on our web 2.0 pages we use EVERY DAY. Have you thought about when you have not been online on any social website? How long is that ago? You probably do not remember, and most people in the modern world are like this, including myself.
I am curious and really looking forward to the new approaches Neuromarketing will contribute to businesses and to the marketing world. On the other hand I am a little scared as well, because sometimes information about someone is found online you wonder where it comes from... .