Comments on: Marketing Mind Meld, Part 2

By: Richard Hennessy

Richard Hennessy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 09:38:09 +0000

Sorry for coming to the conversation so late but I had to add my professional opinion. I am a hypnotherapist and have run a private practice in Sheffield (UK) for the last few years. I am now looking at working with several market research companies to develop hypnosis focus groups.
As a technique hypnosis can be very powerful but it only works with those who want it to work with. Instructions and questions must be within acceptable levels for the individual. If an instruction takes them outside their own moral boundaries the individual will not comply.
Ethically there are no problems if the participant has had the study explained in full and has given their informed consent. Hypnosis is perfectly safe and natural. We all go into some degree of hypnotic trance every day of our lives and usually never notice it or have any problems as a result of it.
As for people being suggestible while in a trance, yes that is true. Theoretically participants could be told to by x product every week for the rest of their lives and a percentage of participants would but that is not what the focus group is about. By using clean language and by having a definite objective in mind for the focus group it is possible to gain deep insight into the emotional factors that influence a decision. Regular focus groups by contrast can often provide superficial and rational information that is devoid of emotion and lacking insight into the real motivators behind a choice. Regular focus groups are often easily swayed by dominant participants.

Done professionally I believe that hypnosis focus groups can be very powerful. I would not be at all surprised to see them being used more frequently as public understanding increases of what hypnosis actually is and how it really works instead of opinion and comment being influenced by bad b-movies, stories and rumours.

By: Mario Vellandi

Mario Vellandi — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:53:07 +0000

Ted,
I’m borderline on the subject. Like Dusan said, the field is widely misunderstood. I’ve read on hypnotherapy & NLP, and understand the possibilities of evoking honest feelings from subjects. However, the potential for eliciting false positives and irrelevant biases can exist.
Without details about the unique methodology applied, the environment, and other contextual information on the study, it would be inappropriate to cast a black or white qualitative assessment. To me it remains gray.

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By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:59:55 +0000

You’re right, Dusan, hypnosis like any other marketing approach that delves into people’s thoughts and opinions, can be used incorrectly. The privilege to obtain information from willing participants must be viewed as that. A privilege. And, like Paul, I question whether hypnosis would give marketing research additional value, too. That’s where you and I might differ.
It will be interesting to see whether many companies choose to use hypnosis more in future marketing research, or not. My gut says many companies will choose to steer clear of this option, but we’ll see.
Thanks for adding a great deal to this discussion, Dusan. Much appreciated.

By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:54:41 +0000

This issue is bound to raise some ethical questions, Ed. I agree that while the use of hypnosis in focus groups is voluntary, many would be reluctant to participate. Other people might not mind it at all. As you point out: different strokes. . .Delving into subjects’ minds more deeply seems terribly intrusive, doesn’t it, though?
Thanks for weighing in, Ed. I appreciate your balanced, well thought out comments.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:33:25 +0000

Wow, Ted, again the extra topic. Personally, I was experimenting with hypnosis at my youth. Discovering it. Somehow I understand it and belive that with the support of it we can understand consumer better. If we understand them better, we make better products to fit their needs.
So, there is place for hypnosis. Any denial of using it is fear of unknown. After we would try it more, we could debate on usefulness? Unfortanetly, haven’t had that possibility yet.
So far I think that most people see hypnosis as something “magical, wicked, playing with people, non-scientific”. Yet it is natural and useful in any psychological field.
Can it be abused? Any given day. Yet which marketing research cannot be? Which information can’t be abused? Even the information on this site that we are reading at the moment can be abused. It is a question of ethics if you abuse it or not.
Ted, you make me think each time, great.

By: Ed Healy

Ed Healy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:51:14 +0000

Personally, I don’t like giving up control – in any form – of my mind to anyone. So for me, hypnosis is not an option. It creeps me out.
That said, if others want to use it, participants are voluntary, and there is some form of professional monitoring of the situation… I have no problem with it.
To me it’s an ethical questions first. The quality of research is secondary.

By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:02:51 +0000

I understand what you’re saying, completely, Paul. I’m sure that this idea of using hypnosis in regard to focus groups is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows, and a whole lot of skepticism in many quarters.
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it, Paul.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:44:50 +0000

Ted, I’m no focus group expert, but I’ve run a couple. I have found that by setting ground rules up front, I was able to get some “truths”. I would tell participants, we want to know what you really think (even if it hurts). Don’t tell us what we want to hear.
In my instance, I ran the focus groups, but for a better approach, a neutral third party would probably get the participants to open up more.
I’ve never tried hypnosis and think considering the extra costs, it would be of dubious value.