Know how retailing industries use the process of scent marketing to manipulate consumers
Learn about the sense of smell, including retailers' use of olfactory manipulation.
Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz
Transcript
NARRATOR: Wherever we are, we are surrounded by smells. We’re born to smell. That’s why our noses are equipped with about 30 million olfactory cells. And smells influence our behavior whether we want them to or not. The scents around us have an unconscious, but very real, effect.
HANS HATT: "Smells have a direct connection to the oldest part of our brains, the limbic system. That's the hippocampus, the hypothalamus – it's the region of the brain that controls the memory as well as sensations, emotions and moods."
NARRATOR: Industry uses this mechanism through a process known as scent marketing.
HATT: "It’s already well known that you can evoke certain memories directly through our sense of smell, but it’s also possible to use scents to control our feelings. It may even be possible to produce or induce feelings of love. Scent can also be used to influence our decisions, whether we know it or not. But by evoking certain memories through scent, we can influence a person's decision one way or another."
NARRATOR: The smell of a sun tan lotion in a travel agent's evokes last year's holiday or a whiff of freshly baked bread whets our appetite. But isn't this just another way of manipulating and duping consumers?
HANS VOIT: "If you think about it, each and every glossy brochure or friendly sales assistant is a form of manipulation, although I prefer the term stimulation. But what we can't do is force you to buy three dresses if you only wanted one or compel a granny to buy a Porsche just because it smelled nice."
NARRATOR: But fragrances aren't simply here to sell us things we don't want. They can also have very positive effects. Dentists will often use orange scent to calm their patients, while air conditioning units often have peppermint aroma to combat body odor in heavily frequented areas. A practice though that's controversial.
CAREL MOHN: "The problem is that citizens and consumers don't know that they are being manipulated in this way. We'd be pretty annoyed if we were secretly being filmed in public places, but weren't told about it. For me, this is exactly the same thing. It's a civil liberties issue. We have a right to know what is being done to our bodies."
NARRATOR: Consumer rights advocates recommend that people be told about olfactory manipulation. They say that the permanent dispersion of certain scents can have an adverse effect on our health.
MOHN: "It’s well known that certain smells and scents can trigger allergic reactions, so our advice is quite clear. If you are able to take action to reduce the risk of this happening, then you are obliged to do so. And that means not artificially pumping scents into the air we breathe."
NARRATOR: If they want to stop us from being lead by the nose, then legal loopholes need closing. Until then, we'll just have to sniff it and see.
HANS HATT: "Smells have a direct connection to the oldest part of our brains, the limbic system. That's the hippocampus, the hypothalamus – it's the region of the brain that controls the memory as well as sensations, emotions and moods."
NARRATOR: Industry uses this mechanism through a process known as scent marketing.
HATT: "It’s already well known that you can evoke certain memories directly through our sense of smell, but it’s also possible to use scents to control our feelings. It may even be possible to produce or induce feelings of love. Scent can also be used to influence our decisions, whether we know it or not. But by evoking certain memories through scent, we can influence a person's decision one way or another."
NARRATOR: The smell of a sun tan lotion in a travel agent's evokes last year's holiday or a whiff of freshly baked bread whets our appetite. But isn't this just another way of manipulating and duping consumers?
HANS VOIT: "If you think about it, each and every glossy brochure or friendly sales assistant is a form of manipulation, although I prefer the term stimulation. But what we can't do is force you to buy three dresses if you only wanted one or compel a granny to buy a Porsche just because it smelled nice."
NARRATOR: But fragrances aren't simply here to sell us things we don't want. They can also have very positive effects. Dentists will often use orange scent to calm their patients, while air conditioning units often have peppermint aroma to combat body odor in heavily frequented areas. A practice though that's controversial.
CAREL MOHN: "The problem is that citizens and consumers don't know that they are being manipulated in this way. We'd be pretty annoyed if we were secretly being filmed in public places, but weren't told about it. For me, this is exactly the same thing. It's a civil liberties issue. We have a right to know what is being done to our bodies."
NARRATOR: Consumer rights advocates recommend that people be told about olfactory manipulation. They say that the permanent dispersion of certain scents can have an adverse effect on our health.
MOHN: "It’s well known that certain smells and scents can trigger allergic reactions, so our advice is quite clear. If you are able to take action to reduce the risk of this happening, then you are obliged to do so. And that means not artificially pumping scents into the air we breathe."
NARRATOR: If they want to stop us from being lead by the nose, then legal loopholes need closing. Until then, we'll just have to sniff it and see.