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The Almighty Buck Science

More on Neuroscience and Marketing 271

Posted by michael from the CONSUME dept.
SLiK812 writes "The NYTimes is running a story about how marketing companies are using neuroscience to determine how to reach a consumer's buy button more efficiently. A quote from the article, 'At issue is whether marketers can exploit advances in brain science to make more effective commercials. Is there a "buy button" in the brain? Some corporations have teamed up with neuroscientists to find out. Recent experiments in so-called neuromarketing have explored reactions to movie trailers, choices about automobiles, the appeal of a pretty face and gut reactions to political campaign advertising, as well as the power of brand loyalty.' Some groups have branded this as Orwellian. I pretty sure I saw the child of this tactic in Futurama somewhere." There's a related story in the The Independent. We've had previous stories on using MRI scans to market products.
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More on Neuroscience and Marketing More

More on Neuroscience and Marketing

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  • Great! more ads (Score:3, Funny)

    by stanmann ( 602645 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:00PM (#10569274) Journal
    Now along with Radio guy(who advertises serious stuff) Radio Female( who pushes the sensitivity button) TV baby( who pushes the happy button) we have research into the buy button that allegedly will induce me to buy something before I even see it, sort of like the LotR Trilogy box platinum extended boxed set with gondor I ordered today.

    • Re:Great! more ads (Score:2, Interesting)

      by vettemph ( 540399 )
      will induce me to buy something before I even see it

      It will induce you to buy something to solve a problem that you didn't know you have.

      Providing a solution is the easy part, convincing you that you have the problem is key.

    • of like the LotR Trilogy box platinum extended boxed set with gondor I ordered today.

      That's out!? WHERE!?!?!

  • futurama (Score:5, Funny)

    by dark_requiem ( 806308 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:01PM (#10569292)
    Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st 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 bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

    • Much better Futurama (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jerf ( 17166 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:32PM (#10569584) Journal
      Sorry, but this one is much more on topic. (Think about how one would create such a ball if you don't quite get why.)
      Fry: I just saw something incredibly cool. A big floating ball that lit up with every colour of the rainbow, plus some new ones that were so beautiful I fell to my knees and cried.

      Amy: Was it out in front of Discount Shoe Outlet?

      Fry: Yeah.

      Amy: They have a college kid wear that to attract customers.

      Fry: Well I don't care if it was some dork in a costume. For one brief moment I felt the heartbeat of creation. And it was one with my own.

      Amy: Big deal.

      Bender: We all feel like that all the time. You don't hear us gassin' on about it.
      3ACV15, "I Dated A Robot" [geocities.com]

  • Orwellian? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bingo Foo ( 179380 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:02PM (#10569296)
    Folks, it's not Orwellian unless it is backed by a totalitarian state. Most of your fears would be better directed at a Huxleyan future.

    • Re:Orwellian? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by dark_requiem ( 806308 )
      It could still be considered Orwellian. Don't discount our dear old friends the Thought Police. The Orwellian fear is that this could be exploited to monitor people for deviant thoughts and preferences. The Huxleyan (never heard that term before, but I like it. Don't mind if I steal it) fear is the more obvious one that people's preferences can be dictated to them via advances in neurophysiology.

      • Soon, the GREAT CLEANSING will occur! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "Imagine a stealthy hand reaching into your pocket. For the rest of eternity."

      • Huxleyan! (Score:4, Funny)

        by plover ( 150551 ) * on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:20PM (#10569469) Homepage Journal
        I'm glad you're an Alpha, and can think of these smart things.

        I'm a beta, so I'm happy leaving these smart thoughts to you.

      • Re:Orwellian? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by jafac ( 1449 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:03PM (#10569941) Homepage
        True.

        The political landscape of the US was changed forever when Nixon's election commitee began using modern marketing techniques to sell their candidate like a packaged product.

        This science has been elevated to an artform by the likes of Karl Rove, who has become quite adept at figuring out how to push some people's "VOTE" button. And worse still, he's figured out how to get people so disgusted and turned off, that they abstain from voting altogether, leading to the abysimal voter turnouts of the last several elections.

    • Re:Orwellian? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dr Caleb ( 121505 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:32PM (#10569591) Homepage Journal
      would be better directed at a Huxleyan future.

      Huxley? Why would I want a future based on the Cosby Show?

    • Re:Orwellian? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jtheletter ( 686279 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:34PM (#10569610)
      Folks, it's not Orwellian unless it is backed by a totalitarian state. Most of your fears would be better directed at a Huxleyan future.

      Heh, most of your readers would be better directed at a dictionary. ;)

      Incidentally, for those like myself who haven't heard of this term, here you go.
      Don't say I never gave ya nothing.

      (excerpted from here [polemics.us]) "What [Thomas] Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility"

      • Re:Orwellian? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Aldous Huxley.
        I don't know where you got Thomas from, but if you're referring to the writer of "Brave new world", it was Aldous Huxley.

    • Re:Orwellian? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by curt_k ( 533018 )
      Ehh, a ruling elite that _is_ the state (state totalitarianism, the overt evil of _1984_) is not terribly different practically than a ruling elite that overwhelms, undermines, and corrupts the state (as capitalism must attempt to do, and has to a large extent).

      _1984_ can most easily be read as an attack on state totalitarianism (e.g., the Soviets), but at a structural level it teaches us quite well about capitalism (corporatism) triumphiant.

      BTW, the NYT article reminds me of a conversation with a friend
    • I guess that depends on which Huxley book you are referring to. Seems to me that I would rather like an "Island" society. OF course, I wouldn't like it to end the way "Island" does, but you get the idea.

      -matthew
    • Oh wait. You probably meant Thomas Huxley.. not Aldous Huxley. Yeah, a Huxleyan future would suck.

  • More than a buy-button (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fembots ( 753724 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:02PM (#10569301) Homepage
    I don't think a brain analysis is an effective way to determine consumer behaviour.

    Our behaviour is most likely shaped by the environment and condition we're experiencing.

    Truth to be told, any sports car will trigger my buy-button, but can I afford to buy it?

    • Re:More than a buy-button (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wattersa ( 629338 ) <andrew@andrewwatters.com> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:33PM (#10569597) Homepage
      Truth to be told, any sports car will trigger my buy-button, but can I afford to buy it?

      "Thanks to our low introductory APR, you can!"

      "Thought you couldn't own a Benz? Think again!"

      "Let BMW Certified Preowned vehicles find you the car of your dreams...at a practical price!"

      This is a science-- note that in the radio ads they never tell you what the APR is unless it's "zero percent" or close to it. They make you want the item with positive images and thoughts and they defer the "bad news" as long as possible until the very end of the transaction, after you've decided you want the item so even if you know you probably can't afford it, someone will "work with you" (with you, not on you, lol) to establish a sense of rapport that will make you think you're getting a good deal. Even if you back out, there's some hapless sucker who won't. Despite decades of study and improved learning techniques, human nature hasn't changed all that much.

      • Despite decades of study and improved learning techniques, human nature hasn't changed all that much.

        Of course that goes hand in hand with decades (and tens/hundreds of millions of dollars) of research that has been done by the marketing companies to determine the best selling methods and how to (ab)use human psychology to the benefit of the sellers.

        I wouldn't say I'm immune (on some level virtually nobody is), but having been around it for a long time I'm fairly desensitized and it is truly amazing t

    • And what are "we," anyway? What's doing the experiencing? Is it the soul? Or could it be.. wait, wait, don't tell me! could it be....... the brain?
    • Maybe my own consumer behavior is not normal, but the more I see something aggressively marketed, the more I am convinced I don't need it. If the item provided great value and was a good deal, people would be lining up to buy it on their own and advertising wouldn't really be necessary. Relentless advertising and sales efforts are only needed to override peoples' logical thought processes to get them to make an impulsive buy decision before they can come to their senses and talk themselves out of it.

  • Neuroscience to determine buying 'buttons' (Score:5, Funny)

    by grunt107 ( 739510 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:03PM (#10569310)
    To make guys buy: Gorgeous women implying the purchase of a product makes said guy more attractive.

    To make women buy: "Sale"

    • Re:Neuroscience to determine buying 'buttons' (Score:4, Interesting)

      by gcaseye6677 ( 694805 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:51PM (#10569810)
      It's funny how many people, men and women, will buy anything that is perceived to be a bargain, even if it is no bargain at all. That is why items that are stacked in a pyramid at the end of an aisle with a big price sign on them will sell better, even if there has been no reduction in price. Not too long ago I was buying contact lens saline and I noticed the bottles were available in a twin pack. Then I noticed individual bottles, which were priced at less than half of the twin pack price. Had I not looked, I would have thought the twin pack was a better deal and ended up paying a full dollar more. I'm sure people fall for this all the time, especially those who cannot do math in their heads.
    • Like the answer isn't already obvious: fear.

      Playing on fear hits on the second level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, safety. This has to be satisfied before love, self-esteem, or self-actualization. Targetting this hits us at the mammalian level, even below the monkey. Only raw physical drives come before this. This is why SUV's are selling so well. Car buyers have been convinced that SUV's are safer. In fact, they're not--their center of gravity is too high for their wheel base, and their size and weight
  • I hope this research will do away with the plethora of commercials aimed at the idiots among us who will buy anything based on what they are told about the product.

  • It seems that in many cases these studies are confirming long-held beliefs rather than breaking new ground. E.g.,:

    The study showed that some people did not choose a drink based on taste alone, Dr. Montague said. They chose a drink plus what it conjured up to their medial prefrontal cortex, namely the strong brand identity of Coca-Cola, he said.

    I was pretty confident in that conclusion without the fMRI.

    • Re:interesting, but doesn't seem groundbreaking... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by payndz ( 589033 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:39PM (#10569663)
      They chose a drink plus what it conjured up to their medial prefrontal cortex, namely the strong brand identity of Coca-Cola, he said.

      Heh.

      I used to drink Coke, until I thought, 'Hang on, what's this doing to my teeth?'

      So I switched to Diet Coke. Until I thought, 'Hang on, if I want to drink a fizzy brown liquid that tastes like battery acid, I can buy own-brand cola from the supermarket for a quarter of the price.'

      So I switched to that. Until I thought, 'Hang on! Why am I drinking stuff that tastes like battery acid at all?'

      Wow, was the cola industry pissed!

      (I also stopped eating at fast food joints about six months ago. Man, if another billion or so people do the same, those evil megacorps are *really* in trouble, huh?)

  • Create a pill to make you buy more. Or even better: something to spray inside shopping centers.
    • It's been done.

      Disney has had odor emitters strategically placed along Main Street in DisneyWorld for over a decade now. They keep a faint scent of chocolate in the air to attract you down Main Street, and even if you don't stop at the chocolate shop, you at least aren't repulsed by the overwhelming scent of two-year-old children in need of diapers.

      • Re:Next step (Score:2, Interesting)

        by thogard ( 43403 )
        The tobacco companies have been doing it for decades as well. They use the term "lift" and "rise" to describe how smoke rises. They want the smoke to rise very slowly so it has a better chance to remind another addict that they need to light up so they cut their drug with some nasty chemicals to keep the smoke from going up too fast as well as preserve some of the smell/stench for as long as they can.

    • Re:Next step (Score:3, Funny)

      by misleb ( 129952 )
      Unmotivated? Materialistic consumerism got you down? Try Paxil today!

      Disclamer: May cause abdominal discomfort, decreased sexual functioning. May steal your girlfriend and key your car. Paxil is not right for everyone. Ask your dealer^H^H^H^H^Hdoctor if Paxil is right for you.

  • Bah. It's an old idea, and it's pretty much... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sein ( 803257 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:07PM (#10569346) Journal
    True.

    For a given value of true.

    "People buy from emotion and justify with logic" has been around since the turn of the last century among a certain segment of the marketing people.

    The new bit I suppose is to try to pinpoint the triggers more exactly, to reduce those unpleasant random variables like human free will and choice and stuff. It's so much easier if "They" can just model you on a mainframe, debit your account, and ship you whatever it is you're supposed to buy from them next, I suppose. Not that this is what they think they're aiming for, but I doubt the net effect will be any different.
    • Careful, soon you'll begin to believe in the Matrix!
      On a serious note you can easily see when you make points like this where stories like The Matrix get their ideas from. Every government in every country be they dictator of elected officials would find it so much easier to manage their country if they could do away with freedom of choice and run everything to a prescribed formula. Hence the occurences of so many dictators, and 'tin foil hat' paranoia's. We are controlled by one force or another on a dai

    • It's so much easier if "They" can just model you on a mainframe, debit your account, and ship you whatever it is you're supposed to buy from them next,

      Gee...sounds just like my Columbia House Music [columbiahouse.com] subscription. Although it is better now, than when they used to mail me LPs every month that had to be mailed back to them...

  • This kind of thing... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by marktaw.com ( 816752 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:11PM (#10569370) Homepage
    This kind of thing has been around for a long time. The basis is a Behaviorist view of the world that says that given a certain stimulus, most of us (enough of us) will respond in a certain way. Marketing from that viewpoint becomes about pushing the right buttons, and finding better and better ways of pushing those buttons.

    Your opinion on how good or evil this kind of thing is may come from how much you agree with that viewpoint. Can marketers refine their science to such a point where you have almost no choice but to buy what they tell you?

    Depending on which side of the coin you fall on, this is all either smoke & mirrors, or cutting-edge research that will eventually rule the world.
    • Assuming the Behaviorist view is accurate, it raises an interesting question: What stimuli have driven marketers into their "chosen" profession?

      Another interesting question: Assuming that our present social institutions are the result of naturally-occuring stimuli, what are we complaining about? I mean, obviously our complaints are in response to stimuli, rather than the result of freely-operating reason, but doesn't that mean our complaints have no real value as ideas? And doesn't it mean that our cur
  • Even if this is possible, and doable in the near future, there will definitely be laws put out to regulate this sort of thing. The same thing is true for those subliminal advertising gimmicks where they pop up a picture of something for a split second and let your subconscious register it. There are laws governing that and there will be laws governing this too.

    That being said: You are getting sleeeeeepppy. Loooook at the preeety ligghts on my siiiitteeee. You waaaannntt to buyyyy myyy wireless frooog.Yo

    • Can I get free shipping on that frog?
    • > Even if this is possible, and doable in the near future, there will definitely be laws put out to regulate this sort of thing. The same thing is true for those subliminal advertising gimmicks where they pop up a picture of something for a split second and let your subconscious register it. There are laws governing that and there will be laws governing this too.
      >
      > That being said: You are getting sleeeeeepppy. Loooook at the preeety ligghts on my siiiitteeee. You waaaannntt to buyyyy myyy wirel

  • Here's a workaround (Score:3, Informative)

    by darth_MALL ( 657218 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:11PM (#10569382)
    Memorize THIS. [buynothingday.co.uk] Think of nothing else! WOOOEEEEEEOOOOOOOO.

  • Let's not overreact... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by katsiris ( 779774 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:12PM (#10569388)
    This is hardly a new thing. Marketing firms have been using psychology as a tool for developing more effective ads since the stone age. Neuroscience is just an extension of what they know about what people respond to, I don't think it's any reason to be concerned.

    In the end, you either have control over your urges, wants, and needs, or you don't. You either are in control of yourself or you're not. If you're not, then you've probably accrued all sorts of gadgets, toys, and things you don't really need. And doubtless you have/had sex with anyone that got you remotely excited. Actually, that doesn't sound so bad...

    Really, though, we are either in control of our faculties or we are not. If we're not, then we're just animals with no will. If we are, then this is no more concerning then someone plucking your heart strings to sell insurance. I highly doubt there is some subversive way they can force us to buy against our will using some sort of deep-seated neurological button. A shopping spree isn't exactly a survival mechanism.

    • on the plus side... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by wattersa ( 629338 ) <andrew@andrewwatters.com> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:46PM (#10569735) Homepage
      One aspect of marketing/advertising/design is ergonomics and human factors [wikipedia.org], which helps advertisers structure their materials in the most logical fashion for the way people process information. Just look at any cover of Cosmopolitan [cosmopolitan.com] and you'll see the end result of years of studies of the scanning people do when they see a document. Important elements seem to jump out at you without you even realizing it, and if you have time you can read the smaller text under each element to find out more. Cosmo, ironically, probably has one of the best-designed magazine covers. Color, layout, subject matter ("SEX" or related words are the lead/top priority item on every cover) and other design elements are used to great effect. The end result is that you look at the magazine, your eye traverses multiple times across the impossibly beautiful woman whose style (if you're a woman) you want to emulate and you then want to buy it, or you don't want to buy it because you don't really read Cosmo. This is why they sell them in checkout lines-- they're an impulse item for non-subscribers. Same thing with Maxim, Playboy, and other glossy magazines.

      Compare a well-designed magazine cover like Cosmo with an ugly or poorly designed cover like TV Guide or Hot Rod magazine and you'll see who has the best understanding of human factors. Cosmo is pleasant to look at, "Guns" magazine really isn't, even if you are an enthusiast.

      I for one welcome our new human factor-embracing overlords-- as long as they don't beam ads into my head.
    • Really, though, we are either in control of our faculties or we are not. If we're not, then we're just animals with no will. If we are, then this is no more concerning then someone plucking your heart strings to sell insurance. I highly doubt there is some subversive way they can force us to buy against our will using some sort of deep-seated neurological button. A shopping spree isn't exactly a survival mechanism.

      But what is the "we" that is "in control?" I suspect that much of the time, when we think th

  • Are commercials effective? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by k98sven ( 324383 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:12PM (#10569391) Journal
    Really, before trying to make their commercials more effective, perhaps they should find out if their commercials are effective.

    I'm not saying marketing doesn't work.. Obviously people need to know about you and your product if you're going to sell anything.

    But, from what I understand.. there's a lot of theories at the bottom of today's marketing that don't make sense to me.

    For instance, marketing generally tries to target young people. Not because they are consumers, but on the theory that consumption patterns like brand loyalty are set at a young age, and kept through life.

    Now.. how can they possibly know that? If they're studying middle-aged people now, then they're learning that the advertising of the 70's was effective. Then. And quite a lot has changed in both advertising and how people relate to it since then.

    So really.. it seems to me to be a good question whether neuroscience will help much, because the critical attitude of science seems to go straight out the window once something becomes a 'marketing theory'.

  • How do we filter out ads (Score:3, Interesting)

    by alaivfc ( 823276 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:13PM (#10569406)
    It surprises me that, what I would consider to be a more pertinent study, has not been done: how do people filter out advertisements? Everyone is focused on what sticks; however, it may be equally as valuable, if not more so, to determine what does not stick - what we don't even notice. Perhaps this has to do with the get quick attitude of our society. Finding what sticks goes towards the goal of making another "1984" commercial that catches everyone's imagination. However, finding what does not stick allows you to build a much more lasting brand. To do this kind of brand building you don't need to make an immediate impression, you just need to slowly infiltrate people's conciousness. I wonder why large corporations and these researchers don't look at this more often
  • that was the title for the story I submitted to /.
    call me a grouser but check out some of the other links too http://science.slashdot.org/~museumpeace/journal/

  • Enough is enough (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The more those bastards try to make me want to buy stuff, the less stuff I want to buy. When I do buy, I buy the stuff that doesn't flood my life with annoying ads.

  • I am taking a graduate class in cognitive science and half of the students are business or marketing majors. One of our guest lecturers, who studies child development also teaches a class in the business school.
    1. Is the product interesting to me personally?
    2. If I buy this, will I still be able to eat and pay rent next month?
    If the answer to both questions is yes, my "buy" button has officially been pressed, and unless someone (such as my wife, who incidentally is much better at saving money than I am) talks me out of it, I'll be buying it within the next few days.
    • Criteria 1 is more complicated than you make it sound. Marketing isn't just about catering to people's personal interests, it is about creating them. I think you would be surprised how many of what you call personal interestes are actually created by marketing starting at a very young age. Can you really know what interests are your own original desires and which have been implanted there by years of exposure to marketing?

      Also, what if there are 5 brands that all match your criteria?

      -matthew

  • But it's still better than Blipverts [iastate.edu].

  • If these companies (Score:5, Funny)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:23PM (#10569490)
    Put a metric shitload of money in my bank account they would find my buy button pretty quickly.

  • Subtleties (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Dreamwalkerofyore ( 823146 )
    Its not like companies haven't done reaserch on this before. There are many many subtle tactics used in commercials nowadays. The most obvious one is how everything is priced at 19.95 instead of 20$, because we subconsiously think that we are getting a bargain out of it. There is a whole department in most corperations devoted to this kind of stuff (Public Relations). This just makes it easier for companies to pick up more of those little subtleties, so instead of having to have a focus group you just have

    • Re:Subtleties (Score:2, Insightful)

      by cynical kane ( 730682 )
      Actually, things are priced at 1 cent or 5 cents less than a dollar so that the cashier would have to use the register most times a sale is made, which would help prevent cashiers from stealing from the store.

  • Not more advertising, LESS advertising (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lispy ( 136512 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:25PM (#10569514) Homepage
    I wonder if I am the only one who feels he has been watching less ads in the last few years than ever before in my life. I now own a HD-based videorecorder that allows me to skip ads. What's more I feel my TV-consumption is at an alltime low due to crappy programming and the PC as a competitor. Although I find myself in need of a Robo-Cola from time to time. ;-)

    Online I use Firefox with Adblock so I hardly read any ads on the web, ever.
    I switched to Linux three years ago and my daily dose of desktop advertising (ICQ, Splashscreens, branded bootscreens) went down to zero.

    While I am on the outside (beware) I am mostly reading books or listening to commercial-break-free MP3 music (during subway rides or on the bus) and when I am out at night I try to avoid "the hip joint (TM)" where all those guerilla-marketing groups show up. I prefer small, subculture clubs with decent pricing and good music (including hot AND smart girls).

    So, I guess I am much less under the commercial thumb then I was back in 1995...

  • Like they need a MRI scanner to tell them that Ill buy anything endorsed with gratutious breast images. *sheesh*
  • At a basic level, marketing is about conveying information to the consumer, and consumers make decisions in their self-interest. The economic history of the world pretty much confirms the truth of this.

    A well-designed marketing campaign may increase Coke's market share over Pepsi, and may even expand the overall market for soft drinks, but fundamentally, consumers drink soft drinks because they enjoy them, and any market expansion is likely the result of increased awareness that such enjoyable consumables
  • just give me all the information about the product. I tend to buy the stuff that I have the most information about. The most efficient marketeer to me is one who can give the most information in the shortest time.

    What I want is a database with what can be given in terms of objective information, third party reviews , etc. Then it is much easier for me to buy the product that is most suitable to me. When I can do that capitalism would work well.

    If they have to try subliminal messages on me to lure me int

  • when the link in the /. article puts a "please register" page in my face?
    I offered this story to /. [slashdot.org] and put more links in it becuase I found some relevant background that amplifies the story. For instance, have you heard of using neural net programming to uncover buying patterns from analysis of "shopping cart" contents? you can bet Amazon has.

    but what has vulcan eugenics got to do with ANYTHING?

  • Fishing lures are not designed to catch fish. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by karlandtanya ( 601084 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @04:43PM (#10569706)
    They're designed to catch fishermen.


    Of course, you see right through this. You're far too intelligent to be fooled by these techniques. But, if you choose to, you can use them to manipulate your own mind. And, your customers, of course, will be completely taken in! Our new high-tech mental marketing tools have shiny new MRI technology. Not at all the same as that other new agey junk--nosiree! To sell your product, you MUST buy ours!


    Wanna buy a lure? [nlpinfo.com]


    Wanna laugh at the fishermen? [skepdic.com]

  • ...is choice. /neo
  • That article in the Indy, which focusses on the soda market, overlooked the effects of addiction. I used to have a major problem with cravings for sugar, particularly sodas. Four months ago I read a friend's online diary where she said that she had gone cold turkey and stopped drinking soda four years ago. I was inspired to go cold turkey as well. In the first few weeks, the sight of a coke sign or a carboard cut-out of a sparkling glass of Pepsi at KFC was enough to give me cravings (which I thankful

  • Companies have a buy button already which make men buy faster and without much thought:

    Women.

  • If something like that would work it would cause economic breakdown. Capitalism only works if the buyer searches for products they actually want/need at the best quality and lowest price. Break any of those and its something else.

    • Capitalism only works if the buyer searches for products they actually want/need at the best quality and lowest price.

      So how do you explain those two big companies making a fortune selling overpriced sugared water to the masses? How do you explain European car manufacturers selling arguably lower quality cars than the Japanese but charging higher prices and getting away with it because of their pre-established image and prestige? (Note: Lexus may be a big status symbol in the US but in Europe it's still

  • so sorry (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pair-a-noyd ( 594371 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:00PM (#10569905)
    They will not reach my "buy button"
    I despise commercials. They are nothing less than constant brainwashing. The more they hammer me with BS commercials, the more I am turned off to that product. Most commercials are so offensive and annoying that I only have to see it ONCE to be forever turned off to the product.

    I know what I need. I go to the store and buy only the things I MUST have. I do not buy extra things, I don't "browse" or "shop", I buy.

    I can't hit the SHUT UP button on the remote fast enough when a commercial comes on.

    I wish the U$$A had commercial free TV like the UK does, or at least did have at one time.
    I would pay for commercial free TV.

    -
    http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/health/docs/tv&healt h.html [csun.edu]

    Number of 30-second TV commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000
    Number of TV commercials seen by the average person by age 65: 2 million
    Percentage of survey participants (1993) who said that TV commercials
    aimed at children make them too materialistic: 92
    Rank of food products/fast-food restaurants among TV advertisements to kids: 1
    Total spending by 100 leading TV advertisers in 1993: $15 billion

    • I would pay for commercial free TV

      It's called Tivo. Since I got mine I haven't watched one commercial. And yes, you will have to pay for it.

    • Alcohol (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Fantastic Lad ( 198284 )
      Your reaction is similar to my own.

      But I also recognize that I am still a victim of marketing manipulation.

      Much of my behavior is the direct result of marketing.

      Such as preferring women with shaved legs. This is an almost universal trait in men and it drives women to buy razors, --and a thousand other beauty products, for that matter. --Which in turn makes having self-esteem a conditional thing which can only be satisfied by the purchasing of certain products. They advertise anti-depressants like Proz

  • Oversaturation (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 )
    There is no fixed target. It is a cat-and-mouse game. If they did find a particular pattern that triggered buying, eventually people would grow overly accustomed to it and tune out, requiring something new.

    Generally a successful ad will create more of the same or more like it, making people grow weary of that technique or pattern.

    The first Macintosh ad was unique for its time, but the concept has been copied too often. Big Brother is sales-people, big corporations, lawyers, etc. in various variations on t

  • Make advertising non-deductable (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:54PM (#10570337) Homepage
    Advertising should not be deductable as a business expense. It should come directly out of the bottom line. That would reduce ad clutter.
  • Is there any specific "button" for any behavior in the brain? Or is this science as doomed as the "pseudoscience of cool" they debunk in Wired [wired.com]?
  • Neural nets are an actual indirect application of neuroscience to marketing. Uh, they _are_ inspired in the brain, you know.

    For those on the outside, uh, neural nets are structured compositions of nonlinear activation functions that can represent with an arbitrary precision a wide class of mappings between two hypercubes of arbitrary dimension.

    Uh, neural nets learn stuff by example. Like bayesian spam filters, only better & smarter.

    So, given vital stats from a sample population and a human-produced c
  • ...boobies.

    The catch is that boobies are also associated with another button - the embarassment button. The trick is not to trigger the buy button, but to set up an untraceable system of micropayments so I can buy as many boobie pictures as I like without my embarassment button being pressed.

  • 'cause I'm batshit insane! Muuuuahahahaha! They'll never get to me!

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