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TV Networks Open Neuroscience Labs To Improve Their Shows and Ads (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: NBCUniversal's recently-opened Orlando neuroscience lab is trying to develop methods of delivering advertisements related to the scene in the show preceding them, such as delivering a food advertisement directly after a scene which has been shown to make test-subjects hungry. Viacom is building a lab right now to take electroencephalagrams of viewers while they watch. "And ratings firm Nielsen Holdings, which just bought neuroscience firm Innerscope Research earlier this year, is adding facial coding and biometrics to its labs, which currently conduct eye tracking and perform EEGs." NBC doesn't trust what viewers say when asked for their opinion on shows. They want to use science to determine which scenes trigger an emotional response, whether the viewer acknowledges it or not.
>> NBC doesn't trust what viewers say when asked for their opinion on shows.
They shouldn't trust people's expressed opinions. How many people have you heard say naive things like "I'm not influenced by advertising" or "I do my own research"? And yet, advertising works, particularly because advertisers know where prospects go to "research" and get their pitches in there.
This article should disabuse anyone of the notion that they are not influenced by advertising. They are studying brain physiology in order to sell you stuff! They are operating on a subconscious level that many people aren't even aware exists! We have little defense if our conscious mind doesn't even enter into the equation. And if you think these techniques are just used to make you want hamburgers, think again.
Advertising and other forms of subconscious manipulation are used to sell you wars, government policies and political candidates. People think their opinions are their own, but often they have just been selected from a menu presented to them by the media.
Yeah, advertising works. Millions if not billions of dollars have been spent to understand how you think, what motivates you, and how to influence that without your knowledge. Anyone who thinks they are not affected is foolish and ignorant.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Young grasshopper, there is much I could teach you.
When effective marketing organizations lay out plans to get people to buy a product, they design around a concept called a "sales funnel" and map out the mental state of potential buyers in various states. These states include (at a high level) learning about whether or not they have a need, deciding they need a solution, deciding what solutions they are going to purchase, and deciding to pull the trigger on their preferred solution.
Marketing organizations set up interactions designed to nudge buyers down the funnel at all stages, including the stages I listed: "do I have a problem" (often helped along by planted news stories with statistics like 74% of all health care companies fell prey to whatever) and "what solutions are available for this" (often helped along by seeding if not outright buying off a "trusted" reviewer or analyst). Throw in a couple of advertisements that reinforce the exposure of this or that brand name (which is also backed up by psychology), and suddenly you're another sheep buying Oracle.
Are you keeping up now?