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PETITION: Restricting Neuromarketing to Curb Inflation, Protect Fiscal Discipline, and Safeguard European Citizens

To: Committee on Petitions, European Parliament (PETI) Subject: Proposal for EU‑level regulation of retail neuromarketing techniques to rein in inflation and public deficits caused by artificially stimulated demand

1. Recognition of Economic Policy Goals

I, the undersigned EU citizen, acknowledge and support the efforts of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and Member State governments to bring down inflation, keep budget deficits under control, and reduce public debt. These measures are essential for the stability of the European economy and the welfare of citizens.

2. The Problem: Neuromarketing as a Hidden Driver of Inflation

I wish to draw the Committee's attention to a systemic economic contradiction: while monetary policy uses interest‑rate hikes to cool the economy and moderate demand, retail chains employ unregulated neuromarketing tactics that forcefully stimulate consumption. This practice triggers a direct economic chain reaction that undermines the Union's financial stability:

• Artificial demand growth: Neuromarketing creates needs that do not exist, so demand no longer reflects consumers' real needs.

• Inflationary pressure: Sustained artificially high demand prevents market‑based price declines and can generate further price increases (demand‑driven inflation).

• Interest burden and public debt: Persistently high inflation forces central banks to keep policy rates elevated. A high‑rate environment directly increases governments' debt‑servicing costs, leading to larger budget deficits and jeopardizing efforts to reduce public debt.

3. Unethical Tactics Targeting the Most Vulnerable

I find particularly objectionable the sophisticated methods that target children, exploit parents' emotional vulnerability, and take advantage of human perceptual biases to maximize profit:

• Oversized shopping carts: Chains deliberately increase cart capacity as a powerful visual manipulation. Items that would be sufficient appear insufficient in a large cart (a sense of emptiness), subconsciously prompting shoppers to keep adding products until the cart looks satisfactorily full. This technique directly drives unnecessary household overbuying.

• Sweets and salty snacks at children's eye level: Chocolates, candies, and chips placed deliberately in checkout zones and on lower shelves are designed to trigger immediate, impulsive desires in children. This tactic puts parents in a vulnerable position; to avoid public conflict they often give in, increasing monthly food spending and adding to inflationary pressure.

• Psychological anchoring and false abundance: Displaying supposedly discounted but unnecessary goods in large piles creates the illusion of rational saving. Consumers believe they are saving money while buying items they did not intend to purchase, thereby eroding their own savings.

4. Contradiction in EU Policy

It is hypocritical that the EU demands strict fiscal discipline from Member States while allowing multinational corporations to deploy a psychological arsenal that directly undermines those fiscal objectives. Limiting neuromarketing is not only a consumer‑protection issue but also a matter of national economic interest and stability.

5. Demands

I ask the European Parliament and the competent committees to:

• Develop a unified regulatory framework to restrict retail neuromarketing techniques as part of the fight against inflation.

• Ban the deliberate placement of unhealthy foods at children's eye level and prohibit manipulative increases in shopping cart sizes.

• Place consumer protection at the core of macroeconomic stability policy.

Closing thought

The economic practice that systematically circumvents monetary restraint and depletes household savings through neuromarketing cannot continue. The European Union cannot meet its inflation and fiscal targets while permitting subconscious manipulation of consumers in the internal market. The right to make rational purchasing decisions and the prohibition of manipulative commercial techniques are not only consumer‑protection matters but foundational to European economic stability and the defense of the common currency. I urge the Committee to take immediate steps to restrict these harmful market practices at EU level.

Respectfully, Zoltán Bíró

Supporters can sign the petition after it has been officially accepted by the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions.

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