Is Our Sense of Smell an Unexplored Medium?

Making Scents

Have you been to a fair or carnival recently? Those food vendors aren’t selling all those onions they’re grilling. That sweet aroma is an olfactory billboard wafting through the midway. People also use fragrances to send more personal messages. We spray on colognes and perfumes. We plug those little fragrance warmers into our electrical sockets. We even occasionally stop and smell the roses.

But pleasing smells do more than satisfy a sense organ the way fireworks thrill our eyes or music amuses our ears. Our sense of smell is linked to parts of the brain that process emotion and learning. A smell can trigger memories, influence moods and some claim it can affect work performance. New scents are quickly linked to the moment in which they are discovered, and since we encounter most of the smells we know in our youth, familiar scents often recall our childhoods. (Learn more about the science of smell.)

Given the neurological power of our sense of smell, it seems a bit surprising that more companies and advertisers don’t do more with this afferent medium. Sure, perfume makers spritz their magazine ads and direct mail promotions, but why aren’t more retailers trademarking fragrances that might make shoppers feel more relaxed or welcomed in their stores? Why aren’t employers pumping pleasant aromas into the workplace to soothe employees? Actually, some have tried. The California Milk Processor board made cookie-scented strips part of their “Got Milk?” campaign in 2006. Filmmakers tried to add smell to the cinema before they added sound. The French Resistance tried using a horrible smell as a weapon against the Germans in World War II.

But smell-o-vision and some of these other tactics don’t always work. Theaters had trouble clearing one smell out before the next rolled in. The “Got Milk?” cookie strips met with complaints, and weaponized smells have proven difficult to handle and aim. Even if we could create and reliably deploy a smell, we couldn’t be certain about the memories or emotions it might trigger. Would the smell of suntan lotion evoke memories of frolicking summer fun or of that time your older brother held you under water just a little too long? Would the smell of fried chicken entice a patron or annoy an airline passenger?

Either way, scents make sense. So, the next time you contemplate a communication campaign, consider what your message might smell like. Who knows where your nose might lead you.