Paper long abstract:

This paper reports on an ethnographic study of neuromarketing practices in academic as well industry settings. Neuromarketing is the study of consumers' brains in response to product and other stimuli through EEG, fMRI technology and/or a range of biometric measures. Commissioners of neuromarketing research studies first and foremost seek an answer to the problem of (increasing, predicting and defending) market share or creating markets for new products. Neuromarketers aim to deliver this answer by 'interviewing the brain' - that is through eschewing consumers' talk and instead 'directly' studying consumers' brain reactions.

Based on our ethnographic research we describe how neuromarketers problematise consumer talk and instead seek answers to consumers' future purchasing behaviour by turning to a range of neurotechnologies. We show how neuromarketers silence the subject by making an object of the subject and thereby propose to finesse the problem of the unreliable consumer. In conclusion we reflect on the intertwined nature of consumer knowledge, markets and technologies, and on the emergence of a new market actor: the brain. Ultimately, we propose that in neuromarketing practice both markets and consumers are problematised and the problems are solved by a neurotechnological transformation of agency.