Fragrances.

I was filling in one of those surveys¹ a few days back about the fragrances you choose to wear, and was quite intrigued at the subconscious decisions we make when buying one. No not the tickling of your sensory follicles (I'm not a 'nose'), nor the associative smell theory (I'm no proponent of psychoanalysis - yet - that'd probably come next year, if it does) here, but rather the more mundane marketing tricks those nasty big corporations employ to trick us into fooling our noses.

Yes I mean the obscenely provocative² names they use, the stunningly gorgeous uniforms they make their staff wear and of course the ergonomically-shaped bottles³ you just can't handle.

And as not all men (and women) are susceptible to ladies with long legs (hey I wonder why men⁴ haven't got into the act) even the brands themselves are tools to be manipulated - 'big' names (if you aspire to be the boss) for those who follow the crowd, and 'boutique' ones for those who think they don't⁶.

More notes to take to your next fragrance-shopping, eh?





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¹Where you get points, in this case nectar points, which can be used in a supermarket chain (kinda like the ntuc link card) called Sainsburys here.
²Ha ha. Yes cheap pun I know.
³Then again, I'm glad there aren't any regulations on bottle shapes and sizes - we'd probably be subjected to perfumes with varied shocking shades of pink otherwise, wouldn't we. Which would obviously detract from the delightful perfume consultants with their pretty dresses and husky/sweet voices (depending on perfume image, evidently).
⁴And I mean muscled men with suave smiles on well-hung cheekbones⁵ and soft (yet firm) deep voices.
⁵To the anatomically-inclined reading this, I know it is a stretch to describe it in this way, so please pardon me.
⁶That's the best link I could find, unfortunately.