Neuromarketing: some remarks by an economic experiment on food consumer perception and ethic sustainability

It is well recognized that decisions are taken by consumers on a wider basis than the rational itself. Neuromarketing is a field of studies that merges brain science with marketing knowledge. Methods based on neuroscience and technology can be used to better understand the way consumers react and process information from marketing stimuli. Mostly, neuromarketing techniques are used by agri-food firms in order to encourage specific types of food consumption, not always on the purpose of enhancing consumers' well being, healthy eating habits and public health. Among various kind of neuroscience techniques, neuroimaging has been used in order to reveal information about consumer preferences, since they pro-vide knowledge about the way consumers process marketing stimulus, and the consequent decision making. The number of studies dealing with neuromarketing is constantly growing althought it suffers for some limits that many researchers identify with sustainable ethical issues. For the purpose of the present study, we are interested mainly in the way specific marketing messages can generate an emo-tional response, and consequent consumer choice, respecting the parameters of ethical sustainability.