Neuromarketing as a Subject of Legitimacy

Even though the concept of neuromarketing is relatively new, it already has numerous opponents. They stress that its interest in the consumer’s subconscious is a clear example of manipulation and an invasion of individual privacy. Yet other authors postulate the countless advantages stemming from a better understanding of the consumers’ wishes enabling organizations to design offers which are more adapted to their private and innermost desires. Due to the controversy that its development and application have created, the need to legitimize this new stream of marketing is therefore evident. However, there are no studies in this field, given the difficulty of appropriately measuring the legitimacy construct and the lack of consensus regarding the term neuromarketing. This work carries out a first approximation to this matter, analyzing the concept of neuromarketing and its evolution regarding its degree of acceptance and dissemination in the scientific community. The ultimate purpose is to determine if neuromarketing is a concept that needs to be legitimized. The results obtained will provide a basis for an in-depth study which will allow the establishing of neuromarketing’s profile of legitimacy and tackle its legitimization in terms of the weaknesses and strengths of each of the dimensions and for each of the sources of legitimacy.