The Ethics of Neuromarketing in Sports

Abstract

The global sports industry, currently valued at USD1.5 trillion, is both sizeable and unique as one of the last in-the-moment branded experiences. Perhaps the most highly impassioned and engaged brand evangelists, sports fans spend disproportionately large sums of money on branded merchandise to reinforce identity-based affiliation as well as tribal connection to team. While classical economists would suggest that sports fans are rational actors relying on sophisticated mental accounting to evaluate all branded experiences through the lens of acquisition utility, the relationship that binds sports fans and sports brands is decidedly irrational, aspirational, and emotionally driven. Recognizing that traditional approaches to consumer research remain flawed by a host of biases that inhibit consumers’ ability to tell you how they feel, sports brands are increasingly utilizing neuroscience technology to analyze (1) how sports fans process sensory-rich stimuli and (2) the various emotional triggers of sport consumption and brand choice. Sports brands are investing in sensory-rich, next generation stadiums that are meant to serve as mixed-use spaces and community data-hubs anchoring urban development and community revitalization initiatives. Utilizing customer data platforms (CDPs), sports brands and marketers therein will aggregate and analyze both fan-specific and resident data to inform more personalized targeted offerings that better appeal to the emotional, behavioral, identity, and social drivers of choice. While there is little evidence that neuroscience technology is currently capable of informing marketers seeking to manipulate consumer choice through the identification of a “buy button” in the brain, data collected in CDPs represents a real a profound ethical concern for sports fans and all residents of communities built with sacred sports stadiums as a centerpiece.