This blog post will be followed up by a post on the current and popular perfumes and advert campaigns that I am seeing around the shops and magazines for 2016 so keep an eye out! I will even attach a list of department and brand stores where you are able to buy different fragrances from.
The Cultural History of Perfume
The cultural history of perfume arguably dates all the way back to the 17th century when individuals wore masks filled with perfumes and herbs to protect themselves from the plague and diseases. The mask was part of a costume worn by 'The Plague Doctor' whose mask would keep away bad smells by replacing them with good ones with herbs and fragrances and was developed after the Miasma theory of disease was distinguished.
The Miasma theory consisted of the thought that disease was carried by a cloud of poisonous vapour in the air and was created by decay which could be identified by a bad odour. However, many people believed that in order to cure the bad smell in the air that was causing this disease, individuals could naively cure this by carrying good smells. Therefore, by carrying herbs in the nose of the 'Plague Doctor's' mask this made people believe that the disease would go away.
Furthermore, arguably people believed that during the Renaissance, the wealthy and French royalty used to use perfume to cover up the fact that they did not shower. Therefore, they wore strong, musky, heavy odours which would outweigh their unhygienic ways which was a result from the sanitary practices during this period.
Geographic nature of perfume
Culturally, the ingredients of a perfume arguably dictate the different areas and status of a person who wears them due to the various spices, herbs, plants, flowers and animal products. These ingredients arguably connote preciousness, status and wealthy commodities within the fragrance industry.
It is found that in the Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, men and women equally enjoy using many layers of perfume and one scent that they are especially fond of is 'Oud'. Oud is a scent which is made up of elements of the Agarwood tree, sandalwood, amber, musk and rose which have been the distinctive ingredients for the scent for over two thousand years.
Many brands have adapted the need for this scent into their signature brand perfumes such as Gucci's Oud aroma, Jo Malone's Velvet Rose and Oud Cologne and Creed's Royal Princess Oud Eau de Parfum. Therefore, these brands now compete against each other to develop a traditional scent that will cater for the consumers in the Gulf states and many other customer's who are fond of this rich and textural aroma.
Social Science of Perfume - Olfactory Receptors
A person has the ability to smell hundreds of different scents and the receptors that detect these smells are called the olfactory receptors which are located inside a person's nose in the roof of your nasal cavity.
In the small nasal cavity within your nose there are tiny hairs which are made of nerve fibres and which grow from your olfactory receptors. However, what gives us the ability to smell is the layer of mucus which covers these tiny little hairs. If an individual smells a scent in the air, the smell dissolves in this mucus and is absorbed by the hair and therefore, this triggers your olfactory receptors. (I apologise for the vivid details!!)
Scientifically, when a person's olfactory receptors are stimulated, they transmit impulses to your brain. This pathway is directly connected to your limbic system. The limbic system is the part of your brain that deals with emotions, feelings and attitudes. Therefore, this explains your reaction to the smell and whether you like or dislike it as a person's reaction is never just neutral. Furthermore, smells also leave long-lasting impressions and are linked to your memories. It is common that most people have experienced a moment in their lives where a fragrance has evoked a memory in their mind which they may or may not have forgotten about. Even if the memory had been forgotten about, the smell retrieves the memory from an unreachable corner of the brain and we instantly remember the event like it was the day before.
Synaethasia
Synaethasia is a psychological term where one out of a thousand individuals have the ability to smell a sound or hear a colour. There are also other forms of synaesthesia which can control a person's senses and therefore, a person is able to taste certain flavours which have been stimulated by hearing a song, a memory or seeing a colour.
Many people who have this gift are actually unaware that it is happening at all and believe they see, taste, hear, smell things the way everyone else does.
Olfactory Branding
Although I have just previously talked about the Olfactory receptor's there is also a marketing technique called Olfactory Branding. Also known as scent branding, Olfactory branding can be seen to be used by many fashion houses, high end or high street, to use certain fragrances to represent their brand and lure customers in to their stores to create an ever-lasting impression on the consumer to ensure their loyalty. The technique of attracting passing trade with significant scents is arguably just as communicative as the use of a retail shop window or visual merchandising as people commonly are attracted to things that smell nice and are likely to follow them. Many stores such as Lush, Abercrombie and Fitch, H&M, Calvin Klein, Bloomingdales and Oasis (UK based store) have all been known to use this technique to gain customers.
However, although we see perfume and fragrances as a luxurious material, there are many other scent industries that promote fragrances and are extremely successful such as washing up powder, air freshener, candles, shampoo, shower gel, toilet cleaner and bath and face creams.
You may have seen in my blog post based on Episode 3 of the BBC Four documentary 'Perfume' that it was found that toilet cleaner was one of the biggest selling scented products in Brazil and was actually sold more than perfumes. Furthermore, different market levels, consumer groups, lifestyles and aspirations can all have an effect on the sale of fragrances. For instance, men, women, teenagers, children and celebrities may all use fragrances. However, they may use them for different reasons concerning the shaping of their identities, their religions and beliefs or even based on their income.
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