[Comment: If scents are powerful enough to influence customer purchases, then they are affecting the brain much like an inhalant psycho-pharmaceutical drug. This is drugging people against their will... and without a medical license on top of it. Without knowing the state of an individual's brain or other medications they are on, the effects may not be those desired. It's not a far reach to understand why some people have negative health reactions to these fragrances (inhalant drugs), since they affect neurotransmitter balance and brain function, essentially altering normal central nervous system and brain function. The new era will be of people forced too wear respirators to go into establishments in order to avoid having their most prized personal possession stolen. The brain is who we are, our personality, and our ability to function in a way that is copasetic for each of us. No one has a right to take that away!]
The Use of Scents to Influence Consumers: The Sense of Using Scents to Make Cents
Kevin D. Bradford and Debra M. Desrochers. JournalJournal of Business Ethics. IssueVolume 90, Supplement
Abstract
Since the sense of smell cannot be turned off and it prompts immediate, emotional responses, marketers are becoming aware of its usefulness in communicating with consumers. Consequently, over the last few years consumers have been increasingly influenced by ambient scents, which are defined as general odors that do not emanate from a product but are present as part of the retail environment. The goal of this article is to create awareness of the ethical issues in the scent marketing industry. In particular, we illuminate areas of concern regarding the use of scents to persuade, and its potential to make consumers vulnerable to marketing communications. Since this is a new frontier for marketers, we begin with an explanation of what makes the sense of smell different from other senses. We then provide a description of how scents are used in marketing, past research on the power of scents, and the theoretical basis for, and uses of scents to influence consumers. This brings us to the discussion of the ethical considerations regarding the use of this sense. We close with several future research ideas that would provide more evidence of how the sense of smell can, and should be used by marketers.
Keywords ambient scent - attitudes - behaviors - influence - marketing
Kevin D. Bradford and Debra M. Desrochers. JournalJournal of Business Ethics. IssueVolume 90, Supplement
Abstract
Since the sense of smell cannot be turned off and it prompts immediate, emotional responses, marketers are becoming aware of its usefulness in communicating with consumers. Consequently, over the last few years consumers have been increasingly influenced by ambient scents, which are defined as general odors that do not emanate from a product but are present as part of the retail environment. The goal of this article is to create awareness of the ethical issues in the scent marketing industry. In particular, we illuminate areas of concern regarding the use of scents to persuade, and its potential to make consumers vulnerable to marketing communications. Since this is a new frontier for marketers, we begin with an explanation of what makes the sense of smell different from other senses. We then provide a description of how scents are used in marketing, past research on the power of scents, and the theoretical basis for, and uses of scents to influence consumers. This brings us to the discussion of the ethical considerations regarding the use of this sense. We close with several future research ideas that would provide more evidence of how the sense of smell can, and should be used by marketers.
Keywords ambient scent - attitudes - behaviors - influence - marketing
