MRI Brainwashing

By Stephen Bucaro

A good advertising copywriter can conjure up just the right words and phrases to convince you to part with your hard earned money. They make the product or service sound much better than it really is. This is referred to as "puffing". Unfortunately, sometimes puffing degrades into "lying".

Most people don't pay close attention to radio and TV commercials anymore. This doesn't bother the advertisers as much as you might think because if you're not paying close attention you're not performing critical thinking. The advertiser's message can slip through your "BS" filter into your subconscious mind.

Back in 1957, a test was run at a theater in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to see if subliminal messages worked. The idea was to flash messages on the screen so briefly that they are not consciously perceived by the viewers. The messages "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coke" where flashed on the screen. The sales of cola increased by 18% and the sales of popcorn increased by 58% when the subliminal messages where used.

It is very common for advertisements to contain subliminal messages. Look closely at the ice cubes in the glass in any liquor advertisement. No - you don't have a perverted mind. Those shapes in the ice couldn't be created by random melting.

The advertising industry has studied the psychology of colors for many years. For example, studies have shown that the colors yellow and orange tend to pique your appetite. Notice how many fast food companies use the colors yellow and orange for their stores and their packaging.

Now, students at the California Institute of Technology are having their brains scanned by an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine while they view different advertisments. The machine displays the activity in different parts of their brain. Advertisers want to learn what shapes, colors, and images create the most "brain buzz". This is called "neuromarketing".

Evolution has designed your brain to react in specific ways to specfic shapes, colors, and images. The goal of neuromarketing is to create advertising that your brain is unable to resist. Like a brainwashed prisoner, the advertisement will program you to buy the product.

Neuromarketing will allow advertisers to bypass your rational thinking and individual choice in consumer decisions. Businesses no longer need to worry about offering a quality product or good value. If you look at the advertisement, your brian will be nerologically programmed to make you purchase the product, as if you where in a hypnotic trance. When advertisers tell you to buy a product, you will comply. Resistance is futile.

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