Cultural influences on fragrance perception

0

CULTURAL INFLUENCES FRAGRANCE

ON

PERCEPTION CHRISTINE

BROUGHAN

MICHAEL

w

y cannot

a biochemist

invent a perfume? it

about

a

What is

McDonald’s

burger that makes it so popular? French much

Chardonnay better

World? some

than

really one from

In this article of

to

to odours

During

where

that

is strongly

influ-

the

individuals

cultural

were

something

facturer’s

As such,

an odour

source

individual

remains

perceived

whose

the odour

to be found

in the odour of

key impact odorant

called 2-methoxy-3-

great

suggest that this is why they both make

and under-

that some years

unable

to predict

appeal

that

and manu-

profits? Well, the answer is -

- but one would not

us feel good? Similarly, sition

of secondary

often

mixed

fashion

in

the

metabolites,

most

are as a result

than an emotionless

of much evaluation

‘An odour

representation

experience;

has

no

attribute

of its own but

inherent

part

perceptual

of

and

for example,

shaves, deodorants (Synnott,

1991).

costs thousands

removal

perfumes,

of

after-

and air fresheners A typical

of pounds

A wine producer reputation

each year

perfume

to produce.

can gamble

his/her

on the sale of one

‘under-

average’ wine.

after-

auman

odours

Whilst most

are

learnt.

societies

regard

Western

his is not the case in other

this year’s

Christmas

list

(perfumes

have the same fashion

to

culturally

- remember

faeces and sweat as unpleasant,

Furthermore, Infants

evidence

respond

societies.

suggests

favourably

to

that these

limits as pedal pushers and kipper ties).

numan odours before the age of three to

of its

Therefore,

it would appear

rour, but after that, at the time when

to suggest

that it is the perception

of an

the odour that dominates responses

exists

Therefore,

it is unlikely

pyrazines

and heterocyclic

as an holistic

1991).

Many of the attributions

production

interest,

that we spend in

of $US 10 billion

human

identifiable

a unitary,

event’ (Engen,

it is estimated

the

odours,

of scientific

more

is integrated

into the mental

indeed,

of this

There is some evidence that reactions

unnatural

that gives our favourite

and after-shaves

to sensory

is not just

shave its instant sex appeal? I think not

because life is just not that simple. Our reactions

the significance

is it the compo-

plant

responses

it

a

expe-

buyer’s

composition.

19

and a good vintage wine both contain

‘must’ is next year’s Charlie

stimuli

Chanel

effect

on

in fine

is the same

1991).

‘cool’ to eat at MacDonalds.

the region

manner,

still

and

be

of isovaleric

cheese such as Camembert, molecule

and

cannot

somehow

Understanding

or unpleasant.

acid, which we find so appealing

sweaty socks (Dodd,

are

nature

unknown

as pleasant

For example,

odours

expectation.

that the human

as simple as a perfume

will provide

to

with

by our cultural

isobutylpyrazine

stood. Why is it then, we are

era,

thought

rience could be quantified

later,

expec-

modernist

behave in a predictable beliefs emerged

the New

suggest

enced by an individual’s tations.

that

we will review

evidence

response

Does a

taste

associate moulded

A ND

KIRK-SMITH

that we

rather

‘Big Mac’ that generation,

0

of

behavioural

than the odour itself.

enchant

but more

THE

reasonable

cultural processes

are known to be very

powerful, these odours become regarded as unpleasant

(Stein, et al, 1958).

that it is the rings in the our younger

the fact that it’s

lNTERNAT,ONAL

doi:l0.1054/‘@2000.0037.

JOURNAL

available

The influence

of culture

tion and response

OF

online

AROMATNERIPY

on our evalua-

to odours is particu-

2ovo

at http://www.idealibrary.com

7Jol~nos on

@

IDEaL@

larly evident when one takes an histor-

rancid

ical perspective.

tumorous

lst-century

Even as far back as the

AD, evidence

cultural

significance

Petronius

wrote:

odours,

churches

as

the The

Mistresses

priest,

are in

stank,

bridges

Wines are out of fashion

Now cinnamon’s

aristocracy

the thing!

which odours have been regarded the centuries text.

is a particularly

He suggests

individual

to

before the mid-l&h Europe.

These

formed

believed

that

less of your class or status. Eighteenth-

meant

century

was believed

stench

barely

modern

in

the

cities

conceivable

men

streets stank of manure,

a

to us

and women.

pings,

the

cabbage

The

the court-

unaired dust,

kitchens

the

spoiled fat;

stank

bedrooms

damp

the

of stale

of

greasy

featherbeds,

pungently

sweet

chamber-pots. sulphur

of

mutton

parlours

sheets, the

wood and rat drop-

and

The

a rank

like an old

and

aroma stench

of of

rose from the chimneys,

was consid-

practice, the

as it was

best

the

protection

popular.

was

to

hygiene.

as rose,

thyme,

were

used

final coating

between

one’s

Instead,

a

of musk and civet would

who

could

and

being

not.

used as mechanisms

stated,

distinctions

inequalities.

smell’.

John

Dollard

blood. People

stank of

the individual

from

notes that ‘the belief that Negroes have

their

an

only protect

It was only when scientific eries associated waste

infections

(Kirk-Smith,

malodours

discov-

with organic that

1995)

were regarded

with intoler-

ance. During

the plague

large

coats and nosegays

leather

extremely

disagreeable

doctors

wore that

by

demonstrating

the

of

close association

between

impossibility

races’. In the

same way that ‘beauty

is in the eye of

the beholder’,

became

matter

odours

of choice

could use odours as a cultural

the

‘quack’

of class and social taste.

doctors)

which

protect

them

used

they from

to

describe

believed breathing

bodily

the

air. This scientific

would

In

in the

reported

the

home

use

of fragrances

odours,

social classes through

that

teeth,

from

of onions,

bodies,

their

and

if they were

very young,

came

from no

to mask

but it also provided

their mouths rotting

for

discovery

UK

the

a

identification smell. Under

of this

interpretation,

scientific

their

ated a cultural

shift in the perception

longer

and significance

bellies

the stench

of

advances initi-

of odours, leading to a

society in which both body odour

and

more

and preference.

a bird’s beak or bill (hence

term

to

the USA to justify racial segregation

resembled

sweat and unwashed clothes; from of

smell

white people has been used by racists in

sexual attractiveness!

mechanism

came the stench

(1957)

disease, but it would also increase

not

a Wigan

a

One

signifier

teacher

is

to have had a boy sent

because

of his smell. The

‘Dear Miss, our Johnny

congealed

summed

words.. .The lower

boy’s mother

of

for

George

in the West....is

up in four frightful

and

stench

to

‘The real secret of class

not only led to massive sanitary reforms

the

and

It also led

tanneries,

and from the slaughter-

than

fragrances

infectious

came

to

division emerged

the stench of caustic lyes from the

houses

rosemary

fragrance

it.

fine

and social

classes

odours such

those who could afford sanita-

those

Orwell

own

their own odour rather

and

odours

layer to

18th

one’s

violet

baths

racial

Furthermore,

the

own personal

to delicately

tion,

strongly

to add a protective

now cast

of

question

personal

hygiene which

use of

cleanliness.

end

Masking

odour

was to smell

that pores were clogged

animal

century, musk and civet were no longer

lack of personal

ward off any diseases.

yards of urine, the stairwells stank of mouldering

even the King

this time bathing a foolhardy

The

by Suskind:

perfumes

Thus, a cultural

disease

of which we speak,

masking

to mask or obliterate

During

part

The

Suskind)

against

reigned

the

of the

stank like

of

suppressed.

emphasis

oneself.

there

stank,

stank,

of society -

Paris was described

powerful

significance

Towards

as did his

the whole

and the Queen

a part of your life regard-

In the period

as did

were

goat, summer and winter. (Patrick

ered

century in modern

malodours

sexual

odours

was little malodours

of daily lie for all members they formed

over

readable

that there

response

lion,

of the way in

the

doubt upon a person’s

it stank beneath

stank

wife,

himself account

rivers

stank, the

the apprentice

master’s

(1986)

The

and in the palaces.

peasant

Rose leaves are dated

Corbin’s

and sour milk and

disease.

stank, the marketplace

exists of the

of

cheese

sent her this note smells the

same as his Dad and his Dad smells lovely. I should

know, I’ve slept

with him for 25 years. The trouble with you, Miss, is that you’re an old maid proper

and

don’t

know

what

man smells like.’ (Quoted

by Van Toller, 1986).

a

revolution further The use of incense an excellent

in religious

example

rituals is

of how meanings

are ascribed to odours through expectations. of incense Chinese,

comes

from

the

human,

use

ancient

ritual by the Hindus

and has been continued religious

ceremonies,

the Roman

Catholic

However, significance regarded

of

in

mass.

whilst

ceremonial

incense

as cultural,

is

and elimination each

structural

Stoddart

sociobiological

of

androstenone. from

the

more

able to stimu-

emotional

levels of the

and indistinctly

does not

in Western

focus

Howes

- however,

- with sexual

to

and

Synnott

associations.

have

strong

perceived

have

However,

negative

among

tribes

certain

in Africa

in a very positive

it is

way, often

with power and pres-

Companies

would be wise to test out

their products

tant role to play in sensory

to sell it in. It would be dangerous

evaluation.

cultures

‘inhabit

greater

sensory

signifiers societies.

suggests that the importance

in Western

as a result of the declining smells

He

of odours

and historical

have been weakened

is

context society

presence

of

in the wake of the perceptual

in the culture

assume that a product successful

suggests that the

as cultural

in non-Western

in their cultural

19951)

different

different

worlds’. Howes (1991) use of odours

of

businesses

Our olfactory

thresholds

may be infe-

rior to that of your average

dog, but I

find it difficult

that a dog

to imagine

enjoys the same sensory

pleasures

that

we do when indulging

in our favourite

wine or would respond

in the same way

to the faint waft of cigar smoke in the cricket

pavilion.

We may well, in the

future,

be able

to design

computers perfume

and know a vintage wine when it sees one. It may also be able to unfold of the

However,

Macdonald’s

until then we should

nise the cultural in odour

complexities

perception

the

burger! recog-

involved

and revel

in its

sensory delights.

??

Classen,

C., Howes,

A. (1994)

Aroma,

smell. London: ??

Corbin,

fragrant.

D. and Synott,

the cultural

history of

Routledge.

A. (1986)

and the

The foul

Leamington

Spa:

Berger

Hall,

E.T.

The

Hidden

(1969)

Dimension. New York: Doubleday.

to us, it would

people

Larger

would do well to learn from this lesson.

??

Hall (1969 [cited in Kirk-Smith,

customers.

Publications.

than odours becoming

that

of his

his

expectations

society, the odour

appear that they still have a very impor-

suggested

the

ritual.

less and less important

has refined

differences.

would

associated

use

of cow manure

these

cattle-herding

tige.

sensory

in odours are

of the odour

of cow manure

being

our

(1994)

proprietor

dishes to suit the cultural

that can invent a best selling

in society today. Classen,

Typically, in Western

in the emotionally

charged

to

( restaurant

mystery

demonstrate

of incense

of the signifiers

but the importance

appears

still apparent

This may be a key to the use

So, rather

The

Cultural differences

attraction.

setting of the religious

of odours

cues within

still

example

point of view that there

brain than those associated distantly

a

that

comments

can be no odours late the deep

and

have

to

and (1990)

cassia

odours

similarity

androstenol

galbanum,

bark,

These

empirical

of the production

year.

of olfactory

support.

cinnamon

an

to

when one examines

may have changed,

that

world

sandalwood).

or

peculiar

this notion

validation

frankincense, styrax,

representa-

than historical

than

how much is spent

only a few plant resins are used (myrrh, labdanum,

He

individual

odours that we use as cultural

largely

is it notable

rather

reality. However

society

the

the

representation,

West,

receive

to be used in

most notably

that

as more

more biological

is a cultural the

from whom it was taken and

used in religious

suggests

of smell

century.

‘private’ than social, more animal than

cultural

The earliest recorded

tion

of the mid-18th

ically another expert, one

country.

in

in Australia

is vastly

from the one she is used to in

different

prepared

response

Being a bit of a curry

her native country are

same

will automat-

the author notes that the curry

is served

different

the

to

that is seemingly

in one country

attract

they plan

to

(the UK) and both the

in the regions

‘real of India.

??

Howes,

sensory Toronto 0

(1991)

experience.

The

varieties

Toronto:

of

University

Press.

Suskind,

P. (1991)

Perfume:

Washington:

of a Murderer

The Story

Washington

Square Press. ??

Synnott,

smell.

??

A. (1991)

A sociology

of

Canadian Review of Sociology and

Anthropology.

28(4):

437-459.

Van Toiler, S. and Dodd, G.H. (eds.)

thing’

(1988)

One

biolo,g

can only assume that the local Indian

D.

Perfumery: of fi-agrances.

York: Chapman

the psychology London

& Hall.

and

& New