A NEW ROLE FOR SMELLS
The smell of fresh bread spreads throughout the supermarket even when the ovens are empty; the air of amusement parks is filled with the odor of popcorn even when no popcorn machines are in sight. It's all part of the growing world of scent marketing – the use of synthetic scents to encourage customers to stay longer and spend more. Thanks to recent technological advances, a large variety of smells has become available to shop owners for as little as $100 a month. This has enabled many more of them to introduce scent into the air of their stores.(lines 1–6)
Smells have been found to produce a wide range of emotional responses, and consequently to affect behavior. According to one study, for example, people in a pleasantly scented area of an office building were more likely to help a stranger than when the same area was unscented. Other studies have shown that scents can improve people's shopping experience, and also their response to the products on sale. Retailers have successfully used these effects to increase sales. For instance, when an American shoe manufacturer opened its first store in China, a wood and leather scent was sprayed in the air to create a sense of tradition and quality. And indeed, shoppers spent twice as much money as they did in unscented shoe stores of similar size.(lines 7–14)
Nevertheless, scent marketing is not a science; in fact, many attempts to exploit the influence of smell have been complete failures. One reason is that people’s reactions to an odor can vary widely, and often depend on their initial experience with it. An international survey conducted in the mid-1960s, for example, found that the smell of the wintergreen plant aroused different emotions in the USA and in Britain. While American participants found it pleasant because it was associated with chewing gum and candy, it was considered horrible in Britain, where it was mostly used in medical products.(lines 15–21)
Moreover, the response to a scent-based campaign can be unpredictable. This was recently the case in San Francisco, where strips covered with the synthetic scent of chocolate chip cookies were hung in bus stations to make them more pleasant. The city soon ordered the strips to be removed due to passengers' fears that they might cause allergic reactions such as rashes or breathing problems.(lines 22–25)
Scent makers, however, point out that the industry long ago stopped using chemicals that might have such effects. Objections, they claim, are far more likely to be based on a mere dislike of a particular scent. But Leonard Gordon of The Smart Consumer magazine insists that consumers' complaints are not just a matter of personal preference. "Even smells you like can be extremely annoying if they're too powerful," he says. "Shop owners who choose to spray a scent in their stores should therefore keep in mind that the outcome won't necessarily be what they expect."(lines 26–31)