Fast Company has an interesting article, "How Neuromarketers Tapped the Vote Button in Your Brain to Help the GOP Win the House," by Kevin Randall (11/04) on the use of EEG machines to measure responses to political campaign ads. The data from the measurements are used to tweak the ads to appeal to more emotional responses, triggers if you will, that move people to vote on way or another. No one in the business likes to talk about it though,
The secrecy may be in part because the field is in its infancy, and many in the academic neuroscience community find the current state of political neuromarketing flimsy at best. “We are in no danger of being brain-washed by super-effective, neuromarketing-based political propaganda!" says Martha Farah, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for Neuroscience and Society.
All the same, you now have a good reason to just mute or turn off the tv when the ads come on.
Something to remember for next campaign season. Geeks and wonks will want to read the whole article.
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1 comment:
Jane,
I will never think about John Callahan again without referencing the word "DISASTER" They ran that ad on a seemingly 24/7 loop in the valley.
They created a word association that voters could not ignore.
With everybody walking around staring at their phone or a blue tooth hanging off their ear, it's only a matter of time before "resistance is futile."
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