Exploring Neuromarketing and Its Reliance on Remote Sensing: Social and Ethical Concerns

Authors

  • Selena Nemorin London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Oscar H. Gandy, Jr. Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania

Keywords:

neuromarketing, remote sensing, ethics, privacy and surveillance, discrimination, inferential statistics, technology assessment

Abstract

This article evaluates the consequences of neuromarketers’ reliance on direct and indirect forms of remote sensing. These remote sensing strategies, tactics, and resources include various sophisticated techniques for evaluating neuronal and behavioral responses to commercial messages with the aid of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. The information generated with the aid of fMRI, in combination with inferences drawn from the massive data analyses enabled by machine learning techniques, is expected to contribute to the power and influence of market-oriented segmentation and targeting. After characterizing the current state of and future trends in applied neuromarketing research, we discuss how reliance on descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive communications strategies enabled by remote sensing will affect the life chances and well-being of segments of the global population. We conclude with a discussion of the moral and ethical implications of these developments, primarily in the context of public policy deliberations related to privacy and surveillance that we associate with remote sensing.

Author Biographies

Selena Nemorin, London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr Selena Nemorin is a researcher at the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science. She is currently working on the VIRT-EU research project: Values and Ethics in Innovation for Responsible Technology in Europe. VIRT-EU is an interdisciplinary and cross-university European Commission Horizon 2020 project which runs from 2017-2020.Selena’s research focuses on critical theories of technology; surveillance studies; data/IoT ethics, and youth and new media/technologies. Her past work includes research projects that have examined the uses of new technologies in digital schools, educational equity and inclusion, experiences of internationally educated female teachers and their integration into K-12 schools, as well as human rights policies and procedures in post-secondary institutions. 

Oscar H. Gandy, Jr., Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania

Professor Oscar H. Gandy Jr is an Emeritus Professor of Communication with the Annenberg School for Communication. Gandy is a scholar of the political economy of information.

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Published

2017-11-13

Issue

Vol. 11 (2017)

Section

Articles

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