Page 1 of 11

181

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.12

Publication Date: December 25, 2020

DOI:10.14738/assrj.712.9360.

Vidal-Raméntol, S. (2020). Neuromarketing and Sustainability. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(12) 181-191.

Neuromarketing and Sustainability

Salvador Vidal-Raméntol

Universidad Internacional de Catalunya UIC. Barcelona

C/ Josep Trueta s/n, 08195 Sant Cugat del Vallès. (Barcelona)

Associate Dean , Faculty of Education Sciences

Students: Carla Castillejo, Anna Guardiola, Andrea López, Cecilia Mena, Maria Moreo,

Sara Muñoz, Georgina Riba, Beatriz Pérez y Judith Villanueva.

ABSTRACT

Recent studies show that Catalonia has stagnated in municipal selective

waste collection. According to the data of the waste agency of Catalonia

(ARC), municipal selective waste collection was 38.19% in 2014,

38.98% in 2015 and 38.61% in 2016. In light of the data, the following

question arises: is it possible to increase Catalonia’s municipal selective

waste collection? According to ARC, there are counties, such as Osona or

Pallars Sobirà, which have a rate of 59.92% and 54.93% selective waste

collection, respectively. With this data in mind, we proposed that our

Primary Education students carry out a study of how a Neuromarketing

campaign could influence a selective collection of plastic bottle caps for

a humanitarian cause. We proposed conducting the study in five

teaching centers, conducting a Neuromarketing campaign in one of the

five. The objective was to collect as many plastic caps as possible. This

study was part of the annual Transversal Workshop on Sustainability

that we organize at the University. The results obtained were

spectacular, and this show a need for further research in this field.

Facchin (2018) defines Neuromarketing as the science that studies the

purchasing behavior, consumption, and decisions of the clients in

relation to different products or services. Some studies done with

volunteers using functional magnetic resonances (FMRI) or

electroencephalography (EEG) allow us to know the effects of

advertising in our unconscious brain (Monge and Fernández, 2011).

These studies have provoked strong criticism for studying a part of the

human body that is difficult to control, and thus dominate the feelings of

people (Morin, 2011). The results obtained show how Neuromarketing

can be a good instrument to carry out solidarity campaigns related to

sustainability.

Keywords: Sustainability, Neuromarketing, Solidarity, Plastic caps.

INTRODUCTION

Every year, more than 400 billion dollars is invested in advertising campaigns around the world. In

the eighties, some of this investment bore fruit in the form of the practical combination of Marketing

Page 2 of 11

182

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 12, December-2020

and Neuroscience. Advertisers aided by market research began to consider the possible ways

neuroscience could be applied to influence consumers' brains. Can neuroscience give clues to

consumer behavior? Can it help us explain why or why not one might decide to buy something?

These questions excited some researchers, but caused other groups to tremble.

Neuromarketing is the study of how consumers’ brains function when deciding what to purchase.

It aims to investigate a quantitative methodology to understand the success of the marketing

campaigns. Marketing increasingly focuses on the activity and emotions of our brain, providing

Neuroscience anessential role to play. It can help capture the level of consumer attention

throughout an advertisement and identify an infallible strategy aimed at the viewer's unconscious

mind, creating a false need (Brito-Rhor, sd).

Scientists do testswith volunteers who undergo electroencephalography (EEG) and functional

magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These techniques allow us to understand the effects of

advertising on our unconscious brain (Monge and Fernández, 2011). Human experiments in

Neuromarketing have provoked strong criticism for investigating a part of the body outside of

human control. Critics claim that companies can control everyone’s feelings (Morin, 2011). Using

technology to measure our brain activity provides useful information for product development and

communication (Kevin Randall, 2009).

This science studies the behaviour and motivations of the consumer to generate positive emotions

in a greater volume of masses, reinforcing the link between the customer and the brand (Ecodiario,

2016). Neuromarketing started as an ideal market research tool to better understand how

consumers interact with products. In the past, scientists believed that the decisions and actions that

consumers carried out were based on conscious reasoning, but taking into account Neuroscience,

today we know that the vast majority of our personal decisions are made in an unconscious way

instead of being perfectly reasoned. Neuroscience questions that people always know the true

reasons for our decisions (Martinez-Ribes, 2014).

Our reptilian brain has been developing for millions of years. It is pre-verbal, and it does not

understand complex messages and its most powerful aspect is that it is capable of processing visual

stimuli without using the visual cortex. This is why we prefer images to words and experiences over

the explanations. We can call this Neuroimaging, which works on the basis of graphic inputs (Morin,

2011). This feature is used to introduce advertising in a way that conditions our way of acting in a

conditioned way. For this reason, the best advertisements use fewer words and more images. We

can affirm that Neuromarketing has been successful when the consumer chooses the option on a

continuous basis (Roger Dooley, 2016).

In today's world, we receive an average of 10,000 messages a day. This volume of data can influence

our behavior if it is directed directly to the reptilian brain. Along with Neuromarketing and the

influence it can have on our minds, there are ethical problems that involve different commercial

campaigns, but we must bear in mind that some aim at changing destructive behaviors of people to

obtain beneficial habits for health. An example is the campaign against tobacco where unpleasant

photographs appear on the cigarette packs that deter us from buying them. More examples of

advertisements that use shocking images are those that deter us from handling our phones while