Neuromarketing in the context of sustainable development philosophy

Abstract

This document aims to conduct a literature review in order to identify evolution and research trends in the area of neuromarketing end marketing ethics. The fact of deep systemic crisis of the modern civilization has been discussed by politicians, scientists and philosophers for at least last fifty years. Since then, more than forty of them have been published, that was base for the scientific thought development towards the formation of the concept of sustainable development of mankind. Self-healing changes are extremely slow, despite the enormous efforts of scientists, politicians and public figures. This is partly caused by the fact that in modern politics and economics the neuroscience achievements are used widely but these achievements are applied for narrowly selfish purposes that contradict the main goals and objectives of the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, it is relevant to turn to the analysis of a relatively new direction in modern economic science – neuromarketing, which is gaining the more influence in the society and is actively developing in use. As the world history experience shows, the most important prerequisite for the new civilization formation is a radical transformation of the spiritual (value-semantic) sphere of life. In turn, such transformation is unthinkable without the philosophical project of reconstruction and neoholism, the fundamental value of which is the eidos of harmony, can become such a project. In the modern world dominates the ideology of consumption, the products of which are the presence of fashion, wastefulness, profit orientation in decision making, etc. Consumption is the act of receiving goods or services. Overconsumption (or irrational consumption) that dominates in the world and is imposed by the entire marketing system is the phenomenon of receiving goods and services more than need – to a greater extent than a person needs. This is a dead end, because of which the entire system is going through a deep crisis. Some scientists believe that the way out of the crisis is possible through the interaction of science and economics, or rather neurosciences and economics, which leads to overconsumption of goods and services, which means the growth of incomes of large and medium-sized capital. Others see the way out in the new thinking development, a new philosophical paradigm, which must be introduced into the mass consciousness by means of education, thereby raising the level of consciousness and expanding the potential of a person. The most famous firms that have used neuromarketing techniques to achieve their goals are Coca-Cola, General Motors, Google Mars, Nestle and many other corporations. It is important to mention that the neuromarketing cost is increasing every year, for example, in 2015 the United States spent $25 billion on neuromarketing research. At the present stage, there are three main research methods in neuromarketing: electrical activity of the brain (EEG), oculography (eye movement, eye tracking) and analysis of facial expressions and non-verbal gestures. For example, in the evaluation process of the TV commercials effectiveness, specialists monitor the eyes and determine the speed of pupil movement. Analyzing the above, it can be argued that neuromarketing in the modern world is one of the leading and promising technologies for the society influencing. It is possible that its potential has not yet been fully formed and studied, but these studies are the highly paid item of expenditure in the large corporations.