Educational Media Reviews Online

Neuromarketing is a current hot topic, due in part to fears about marketers – specifically television marketers - being able to directly access brain states and there by predict or control viewers purchasing decisions. Neuromarketing is distinct from the academic discipline of neuroeconomics, which is a brain-based branch of economics focused loosely around decision making, rationality, decision theory and game theory. The marketing angle in this Films for the Humanities & Sciences documentary mainly comes from marketers or other consumer experts pointing out that decision making happens based on emotion rather than conscious choice, and since emotion is a “more primitive” part of the brain, one should change one’s marketing strategies accordingly. Much is made of the “reptile brain” by marketing consultants and brain scientists in the neuromarketing field attempting to sell neuromarketing strategies to other marketers.

While putting forward a balanced view of how brain science may be used for good or evil, overall, Neuromarketing belabors its point, early on making the point about the neural basis of decision making and the provocative social and cultural implications, and then lingering on these provocative aspects for more than half its length. What is less obvious, but perhaps the real and subtle point of the film, is that neuroscience is very far from being able to map brain states to distinct conscious or belief states but is none the less on that road. Is consciousness just the brain’s public address system?

What is useful about the film for undergraduate instruction is that the narrative arc is one that scares and excites viewers with the possibilities of brain-based control or manipulation, and then soothes with cautionary facts from academics and finishes with “now, you decide” ethical question regarding free will. It sets up class discussion quite well and at 53 minutes makes it almost short enough for a 50 minute class and the perfect length for an hour and a half class, given discussion time.

Features that undercut Neuromarketing’s efficacy in the classroom is that it was originally produced in French and retains some direct conversations and voice overs in both French and Italian. While this is not overwhelming, it is distracting. The European take on marketing and advertising in the film also makes a difference when considering students of marketing in the U.S. college classroom. On the upside, this (and the caution of mature themes and subjects shown on the DVD packaging) makes Neuromarketing able to offer several avenues for discussion in the undergraduate classroom.

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