Unconscious Branding, by Douglas Van Praet, focuses on the effects that neuroscience can have on marketing. Neuroscience studies the nervous system and is used with experimental psychology to discover why brand affinity and product purchase are primarily determined by subconscious influences within the brain. The subtitle of the book intrigues the reader as to how neuroscience can actually empower and inspire marketing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The book is divided into two sections. The first section tells us why we behave the way we do as consumers and the second section explains the steps needed to change behavior. The first point raised by Van Praet is the explanation of marketing myths. This is a good way to start a book because it cuts through the nonsense surrounding past and present marketing strategies. The first myth is subliminal advertising. This happened when short messages appeared at 1/3000th of a second during movies, saying to buy more popcorn and Coca-Cola. Popcorn sales increased 57.5 percent and Coca-Cola sales increased 18.1 percent. This increase could be due to more people attending the theater due to polio scares at public swimming pools. After the public discovered the existence of subliminal messages, outrage erupted. The government and the CIA later banned the practice, believing that some people might be incited to do evil. A year later it turned out that the experiment was a hoax, the amount of data concluded was too small to make sense in any way. To this day, the legend endures and people still believe that subliminal messages exist in advertising. Van Praet makes an important point about the whole controversy by saying, "And even if we were so worried that others could control our minds, what we should really be asking ourselves is whether we are ourselves- even one day in charge. » This point illustrates that we really do make a lot of choices unconsciously. The next point that really stands out from the first section of the book is how Van Praet explains the promises and downsides of neuromarketing. Neuromarketing companies have grown significantly in recent years, from just a few companies to nearly a hundred today. While neuromarking companies attempt to get inside the heads of consumers to see what they're really thinking when it comes to purchasing products, it doesn't always work in their favor. There are many cases where successful ads don't convert into sales and unappealing ads perform exceptionally well. The chapter goes on to say that “the brain is far too complex to find a silver bullet.” This does not eliminate the possibility of testing marketing materials with science, but suggests that neuromarketing offers possibilities, promise and should be approached with optimism. The second part of the book then explains the seven stages of behavior change, how consumers' minds process information, structure their experiences and the motivation that determines their behaviors. The first step toward changing behavior is to interrupt the pattern. This step consists of interrupting the recognition of shapes by the consumer. When advertising your brand, you need..