We are constantly surrounded by smells. Some of them are pleasant: the aroma of freshly brewed coffee in the morning, the smell of your favorite perfume, flowering bushes in front of the house or roses in the flower bed. Others – for example, the smell from garbage cans in the yard or exhaust gases of cars in a traffic jam on the way to work-no. And although people have long lost the subtle sense of smell peculiar to animals, smells, whether we like it or not, very much affect our lives.
“There is a persuasiveness in the fragrance that is stronger than words, evidence, feeling and will,” the perfumer wrote in his novel. The story of a murderer” by Patrick Suskind. The events described in the novel and colorfully shown in the film of the same name – not such a fiction.
Smell is the lever
Most often we treat fragrances rather superficially, without thinking about what they mean to us and how they affect our behavior, mood and even well-being. Of course, most try to avoid unpleasant odors and surround yourself with pleasant – that’s all and ends.
However, the sense of smell is the main source of information supplied by the six senses. The impulse received by the brain from the sense of smell comes several times faster than the pain. The memory of smells is preserved for years or even decades, while sound and visual images fade and disappear from our memory in a few months.
Receptors located in our nose, through the olfactory nerves associated with the most ancient part of the brain – the limbic system responsible for the formation of emotions, motivations, behavioral reactions. And the limbic system of the brain is responsible for the processes associated with the organization of memory, for the ability to learn and regulate the activity of internal organs.
That is why, sensing the familiar scent, we immediately remember the event or phenomenon that happened to us at the moment when we first felt the smell – even if it was in early childhood. This memory comes in the form of an emotional image: the smell of my mother’s perfume or dry herbs from my grandmother’s house create a sense of comfort and security.
It is because the sense of smell is directly related to the limbic system, surrounding a person with certain smells, you can influence his mental and physical well-being, provoke different emotions and manipulate his behavioral factors, achieving different reactions.
And this has long been widely used by marketers-there is a whole industry of designing smells, aimed at promoting certain goods and services. Fragrances are used in their work by designers, creating interiors, and manufacturers produce compositions of natural or synthetic fragrances and equipment for their spraying.
And this method is very effective: with the help of aroma marketing, you can increase sales by 15-30 percent. The Nike company, having created its own brand fragrance based on the smells of flowers and actively using it in its stores and even in the technology of Shoe production, increased sales of sneakers by as much as 80%: the bought pair of shoes smelled attractively, however, the smell evaporated after a certain time, and the sneakers began to smell unpleasant – users went for a new purchase.
Thus, the aroma of fresh pastries stimulates hunger and provokes to make more purchases in the store than we originally planned. And not just croissants and scones. Therefore, in supermarkets organize a mini-bakery or just spray a scent of “fresh baked goods”.
Developed special flavors for bars, Nightclubs and casinos, for business negotiations and office staff, for shops of different profiles. These scientifically verified sets of smells provoke more ordering of alcohol and” light ” on the dance floor, make more risky bets and be more compliant in business negotiations, increase the efficiency of subordinates and force visitors to the shops to buy, buy and buy.
Fragrances that encourage a person to buy or perform any other actions do not belong to any super-secret developments. For example, the aroma of roses in the meeting room will add your counterpart pliability, and the smell of orange stimulates decision-making.
Smells affect our emotions, creating a sense of comfort and relaxation. Therefore, actions stimulated by smells, unconscious – we just do what we are pleased. Using a well-chosen composition, you can reduce the negative feelings of a person from staying in any place-waiting in line or visiting the dentist’s office. Or make unconsciously return to a place where comfortable: in the Bank branch, shopping center, or somewhere else, where sprayed pleasant aroma.
By the way, women’s visceral brain (limbic system) has a larger volume than men. Therefore, the fairer sex are more emotional, prone to spontaneous decisions, sociable, but, unfortunately, more prone to depression and suicidal thoughts.
And yet women are better at detecting odors, so they are easier to influence techniques marketing: shopaholics – too often women.
Manipulation or health?
On the one hand, the idea that someone is pushing you to make a decision with the help of fragrances is alarming. On the other hand, it is proved that fragrances have a beneficial effect on the human body. For example, bergamot restores strength, and rosemary improves memory and stimulates mental activity.
This built their theory scientists from the British city of Newcastle upon Tyne. They conducted an experiment, studying two groups of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in severe form. Some patients received aromatherapy scents of essential oils of rosemary and Melissa, while others – no. The condition of those who inhaled fragrances improved: the state of overexcitation (anxiety and fear) characteristic of dementia patients decreased by 60%.
We are not able to protect ourselves from manipulating our emotions through smells – aroma marketing exists and is gaining momentum. Therefore, you should probably relax and enjoy the fragrance of lavender, teasing the smell of coffee and soft French buns.
And at the same time-to stimulate brain activity with the help of rosemary essential oils, to get rid of depression and anxiety through the smell of bergamot . Our life is full of smells, and it’s wonderful!
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