Invasive Tech: Neuromarketing (part 4)

From one perspective, we could say that companies are now better at figuring out what we really want. From another perspective, we can wonder if we really actually wanted their product, or if we were somehow influenced to believe we wanted it by neuromarketing. The Center for Digital Democracy has criticized neuromarketing's potentially invasive technology, and the executive director, Jeff Chester, has claimed that neuromarketing is “having an effect on individuals that individuals are not informed about.” He goes on to say that adult advertising has not seen much regulation because adults have defense mechanisms (unlike children) to discern what is true and false. He feels neuromarketing should be regulated “if the advertising is now purposely designed to bypass those rational defenses . . . protecting advertising speech in the marketplace has to be questioned.” Yet some advocates support neuromarketing with the argument that society benefits ultimately. “Neuropricing,” for example, uses data from brain scans to help companies identify the highest prices consumers will pay. These brain-scanned prices enable an increase in profit, allowing a business to survive during economic recession.