During a recent viewing of the Christmas classic Love Actually, I couldn’t help but notice that there were heaps of perfume and fragrance advertisements shown during the ad breaks. This led me to my second thought, and the title of this article: why are fragrance adverts so damn sexual? Though not all fragrance adverts take on an erotic twist, I decided to take notes of the ones that did and carry out some further investigating.
When thinking to myself and asking others what fragrance advert they think is sexy, “the sailor one” was the one that came up the most. This refers to the Jean Paul Gaultier advertisements, selling both female and male fragrances. The different version of this advert follows the same imagery: a shirtless man with a sailor's cap on, and a woman in red lipstick and a corset—usually accompanied by some opera-like music in the background. The “storyline” also seems to be the same, the man is overwhelmed with lust and essentially partaking in parkour to win the affection of the woman—whether that be a slap on the butt or a lustful kiss.
I understand that these adverts are supposed to show how wearing this fragrance will make you feel, it gives no information on the primary reason people wear them: the smell. In the case of the Jean Paul Le Male advertisements, it is supposed to show how this fragrance will give you the confidence to “win the girl” and beat the other men competing for her affection. But how does this show the audience what the fragrance actually smells like? The backgrounds of these adverts don’t offer any further help, the marina setting alludes that the perfume may have a salty or fresh smell, and the mechanics-based advert suggests a harsh and “cold” smell. Neither of these are true when we look at the actual scent of Le Male which is described to be: vanilla, fresh spicy, lavender, amber, and cinnamon (among other notes).
The Jean Paul Gaultier advertisements strongly play on gender roles and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. In all the adverts the man is muscular and seen to show off his physical strength, whether that be in an arm wrestle or in the boxing ring. His strength is what he uses to get to and win the woman who is always portrayed in a hyper-feminine and sexual manner. Nina Fride, director and founder of the perfumery Friedemodin speaks about this in a Vice interview:
"Perfume ads hire top end celebrities, models and directors; they can cost millions to produce. Perfume is hard to sell, as there are no tangible results that can be shown in an advert. So perfume needs the glitz and glamor…This isolates and excludes the majority of consumers as the adverts are always 'beautiful female, handsome male', and this is becoming boring and doesn't leave much room for diversity.”
Brands seem unwilling to change their advertisement to have a diverse and creative advert in fear of no longer being “recognizable.” Jean-Paul Gaultier's adverts drip in eroticism, people associate it with shirtless sailors and corsets and as a result, allowed it to become distinguished from other brands. The advert sells unattainable beauty and a seductive lifestyle, all in the name of selling a scent.
There are other ways of creating a set aesthetic without sexualizing people or appealing to gender stereotypes. Paco Rabanne has a sleek, shiny, and mechanical approach to its fragrance line, with the adverts revolving around futuristic robots. The adverts are filled with funky music, dancing, and interaction with the fragrance bottle—something that Jean-Paul leaves out. Whilst there is a slightly sexual element, such as bare chests and seductive looks, the primary focus is on the robotic fragrance bottles — making the advert far more enjoyable to watch. Gucci’s floral-based perfumes are fun and feminine, without being overtly sexual. Flora Fantasy starring Miley Cyrus is fun and (literally) animated to show the deliciously floral scent this perfume has. Gucci Bloom is gentle and soft, with the creative director of Gucci Alessandro Michele explaining that “the garden is as beautiful as women are; colorful, wild, diverse, where there is everything” (though it is worth noting that it is only white, slender women shown in this advert).
The link between scent and sex
The majority of commercials are able to show people using the product, cleaning surfaces or having unrealistically beautiful hair. But technology hasn’t advanced far enough to show us exactly how the perfume smells, which is its primary purpose. While they can’t tap into our noses, perfume adverts can tap into our emotions through erotic advertising. Our sense of smell is strongly tied to our emotions and sexual desires, we can create deep emotional connections to various smells and this is exactly what perfume adverts play on. Rachel Herz, author of The Scent of Desire explains that the parts of our brain that processes emotions, memory and motivation actually grew out of our olfactory cortex, the portion of the brain that is concerned with the sense of smell.This is exactly why fragrance commercials work hard to play with our emotions by showing sex, desire, and fantasy. Vice president of advertising for Calvin Klein Cosmetics states in The New York Times that “creating a fantasy for the consumer is what fragrance is all about. And sex and romance are a big part of where people’s fantasies tend to run.” The TV can’t show us the smell we desire, but it can play on these other desires.
Though there seems to be some scientific reasoning to the use of the erotic to advertise fragrances, it does not seem to be a sound reason to excuse sexualisation and objectification. There is still an awful lot of work to be done— we need to move away from the erotic and put energy into being creative and inclusive of all people and body types. We need to see commercials that don’t focus on sex and romance, and instead give us something fun and fresh that makes the advertisement enjoyable to watch, and encourage us to make a purchase.
By Stephanie McCartney