At the intersection of marketing and neuroscience

Heard an interesting piece on NPR's Marketplace last night. It seems that there is research being conducted at Emory University concerning which areas of the brain are activated when a person's preferences and brand loyalty come into play. Using MRI's, interviews and other scientific methods, researchers are hoping to reveal how a person's preferences effect the functioning of their brain, and apply this knowledge to marketing techniques.

While the researchers are saying that they are wishing to "program" a person into brand loyalty, it certainly sounds that way to me. We already know from other studies that TV viewers are actually put into a light hypnotic trance, thus making them more susceptible to suggestion. Combine that in the future with advertising specifically designed to active "preference centers" in the brain, and you have all of the ingredients needed to program a person to carry out whatever action you wish.

While it is still years before we go from research to the reality of this brainwashing madness, we need to speak out now in order to head this monstrous possibility off at the pass.
<http://marketplace.publicradio.org/play/audio.php?media=/2004/05/11_mpp&start=00:00:22:48.0&end=00:00:26:48.2>