Unconscious Branding, by Douglas Van Praet is about the effects neuroscience can have on marketing. Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system and is used with experimental psychology to discover why brand affinity and product purchasing are primarily determined by subconscious influences within the brain. The book's subtitle intrigues the reader about how neuroscience can actually enhance and inspire marketing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The book is divided into two sections. The first section explains why we behave in a certain way as consumers and the second section explains the steps necessary to change behavior. The first point Van Praet makes is the explanation behind marketing myths. This is a good way to start a book as it cuts through the nonsense surrounding past and present marketing strategies. The first myth is subliminal advertising. This occurred when short 1/3000 second messages appeared during movies inviting people to buy more popcorn and Coca-Cola. Popcorn sales increased 57.5% and Coca-Cola sales increased 18.1%. This increase may be due to the increase in people going to the theater due to the fear of polio in public swimming pools. After the public learned of the subliminal messages there was outrage. The government and CIA later banned it because they believed that some people could be influenced to do something wrong. A year later, it was discovered that the experiment was a hoax, the amount of data collected was too small to be significant anyway. Even today the legend survives and people still believe that subliminal messages exist in advertising. Van Praet highlights the whole controversy very well by saying, “And while we were so worried that others could control our minds, what we should really be asking ourselves is whether we ourselves will ever have control.” This point exemplifies the fact that we actually make many choices unconsciously. The next point that stands out in the first section of the book is how Van Praet explains the promises and drawbacks of neuromarketing. Neuromarketing companies have grown a lot in recent years, going from a few companies to almost a hundred today. While neurotagging companies try to get inside consumers' heads to see what they really think when it comes to purchasing goods, it doesn't always work in their favor. There are many cases where successful ads don't turn into sales, and unlikely ads work exceptionally well. The next chapter goes on to say that "The brain is too complex to find a magic wand." This does not eliminate the possibility of testing marketing materials with science, but it suggests that neuromarketing offers possibilities, promise and should be approached with optimism. The second part of the book then goes on to explain the seven steps to changing behavior, how consumers' minds process information, structure their experiences and the motivation that drives their behaviors. The first step to changing behavior is to interrupt the pattern. This step is about disrupting the consumer's pattern recognition. When you advertise your brand you need something that grabs consumers' attention and takes them away from the norm. This is seen a lot during Super Bowl commercials. One in particular that is talked about in the book is the Darth Vader advertisement for the 2012 Passat car. This advertisement was one of the..