Buying With the Brain: Neurology and the New Wave of Online Advertising

You may think that you've taken preemptive measures, and are immune to the pop-up barrages and other advertising gimmicks typical of online retail sites. But according to a recent article in the New York Times, you're probably just as vulnerable as ever.That's because more and more retailers are employing advertising techniques based on something called neuromarketing -- the neurological study of how people make consumptive decisions. Like many things these days, it seems that advertising -- and online ads in particular -- have become a lot more science and a lot less art. Instead of marketing to demographics, Web retailers are basically marketing to neurons, thanks to a slew of studies. For example, one study showed that a picture of a couch with a blue background elicited neural reactions in viewers that gave them a sense of calm and allowed them to identify with the comfort of the product. Another study showed that text placed on the right side of an item exerted a greater influence on a customer's brain than did text running down the left side.
The underlying principle doesn't really seem that new. People have long known that certain colors elicit specific emotions and that particular proportions are intrinsically more pleasing to the eye than others. The only difference here is the environment. The Internet, for all its pop-up and banner pageantry, is a comparatively spartan marketplace: no window displays or seasonal music. Just images, text, and design. Working with this limited palette, then, it's no wonder that marketers and agencies have gone this far in penetrating the psyche of the consumer.

by Amar Toor — Dec 23rd 2009 (from New York Times))