Neuromarketing and Spellcasters

Ethical Markets - RPoetry by Hazel Henderson

Tim O’Connor, co-executive director of the EthicMark®, has produced Spellcasters, a video showing how neuromarketing unethically influences consumer behavior.  The video debuted this week on truthout.org and is quickly going viral! 

The EthicMark® was one of my earliest projects at Ethical Markets Media.  Hazel Henderson began this project with a bequeath from her aunt.  With a little elbow grease, Hazel’s spirited guidance and absolute confidence that the EthicMark would find a home, we were able to adopt it out to the World Business Academy. 

And, they’ve done a remarkable job!  In the past two years, they’ve grown its visibility, given the recent annual awards in high-profile venues and are well on the way to making this year’s awards the most significant ever.  Those of us on the advisory board are proud of our efforts to recognize advertising that uplifts the human spirit and society.

One of the key criteria which Hazel has long advocated is for advertising that “respects consumers as human beings rather than attempting to exploit them by using exaggeration, subliminal messages, brain science, MRIs, or endocrinology as tools to manipulate them for marketing purposes.”

That is why this video is so important to us.  If your company uses advertising, join us in taking the pledge to refrain from using neuromarketing or other unethical marketing practices, and to use only ethical marketing tools to appropriately convince consumers to buy goods and services they freely select.  Companies willing to sign this pledge should email us at Ethical Markets.   As an individual, you can sign the petition against neuromarketing  here.

The pledge and petition will be used on behalf of the EthicMark to urge Congress to hold hearings to investigate the commercial and political uses of neuromarketing so the public can learn which companies and political candidates are using neuromarketing research to manipulate consumers’ and voters’ choices. 

Help us go viral: download Spellcasters for your own site.

More on neuromarketing.  “Is Neuromarketing Unethical” by Hazel Henderson on CSRWire, Feb. 15, 2010

Rosalinda Sanquiche, Jan. 25, 2010, updated Feb. 15, 2010

Executive Director, Ethical Markets Media