Is Neuromarketing Ethical? Consumers Say Yes
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Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU WCOB Faculty Publications Jack Welch College of Business 2014 Is Neuromarketing Ethical? Consumers Say Yes. Consumers Say No Jason Flores Oklahoma City University Arne Baruca Sacred Heart University, [email protected] Robert Saldivar University of Texas - Pan American Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wcob_fac Part of the Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, and the Marketing Commons Recommended Citation Flores, Jason, Arne Baruca, and Robert Saldivar. “Is Neuromarketing Ethical? Consumers Say Yes. Consumers Say No.” Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues 17.2 (2014): 77-91. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Jack Welch College of Business at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted for inclusion in WCOB Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Page 77 ,61(8520$5.(7,1*(7+,&$/"&21680(56 6$<<(6&21680(566$<12 -DVRQ)ORUHV2NODKRPD&LW\8QLYHUVLW\ $UQH%DUXFD6DFUHG+HDUW8QLYHUVLW\ 5REHUW6DOGLYDU8QLYHUVLW\RI7H[DV3DQ$PHULFDQ $%675$&7 Advancements in the development of neuroscience have created the capacity for neuroscientific methods to be applied to marketing science and ultimately marketing practice. As a relatively nascent subfield in marketing, neuromarketing applies neuroscientific methods to study consumer reactions to specific marketing related stimuli. This study analyzes the use of neuromarketing by for-profit and non-profit organizations from an ethical perspective based on consumers’ point of view. The implications of consumers’ ethical judgments are also explored. The empirical evidence indicates that consumers perceive the use of neuromarketing-based marketing tactics by for-profit organizations to be unethical, yet the same tactics are considered ethical when non-profit organizations use this tool. The implications of these ethical judgments show the most favorable consumer responses for non-profit organizations that do use neuromarketing based marketing practices and, interestingly, the most unfavorable response for non-profits that forego the use of such practices. 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