The Seductive Liquid Jewel

Scent is the fastest, sharpest, and the most direct sense of human beings. At 3150 BC, the ancient Egyptian used fragrant oil in funerals and ceremonies to communicate and bring them closer to god. Today, people also use the good scent as a nonverbal communication to craft certain impression to people around them. In other words, perfume wearing has been a long tradition for thousands of years and undeniably that the charm is irresistible to human beings throughout the history. Astonishingly, the trade for the scent has grown large: by the year 2008, perfume had become a gigantic $10 billion dollar industry. Why are perfumes so popular? Later on, we will present the potential purposes of wearing perfumes, the reasons to its constant best seller crown among cosmetics, and the influences perfume has affected people in everyday life.

-written by Rachel & Kevin

Why Perfume

Why people love perfume

Everyone likes to look and feel beautiful. Perfume is a way of making us feel beautiful. Fragrance can control some of our senses. If we know we smell good, we can feel pretty good; especially if someone gives you a compliment on how nice you smell. Perfumes are made up of essential oils, woods, fruits, vegetables, herbs and from many other natural products. This may be the main reason which intends people to use perfume and fragrance during different occasions, climates and during the general changing times. Moreover, we can set the mood with perfume. If we are looking for romantic feelings, then fragrance plays a big part in accomplishing your goal. It has the ability to stimulate the romantic feeling and perfume can create a sensual atmosphere. Furthermore, perfume is also said to be a skin care product.

Why perfume is sold well

Perfume finds its reputation all over the world and a large number of manufacturers start producing different varieties of products for the customers. When more and more perfume products are manufactured and sold in the market using different ingredients and flavors, large number of people start purchasing perfumes even on discount perfumes. Perfumes are sold even as discount perfume, discount fragrance as well as cheap perfume by the manufacturers to the customer. A Large number of perfume products are introduced in the market and especially they fetch good demand among the customers for good prices. Perfume products are the most innovated products which do not replace each other. As trend and ways of living of people are changing, productions of perfumes are also changed. During the past years, most of the people do not use perfume for their skin. But when the trend changes, men and women are inspired to use perfumes for their skin.

Perfume's function

Perfume and fragrance attract the opposite sex and help to expose the feelings and affection to the opposite sex. At the same time it makes both men and women cool, fresh and sexy. Most of the women and men perfumes offer different types of occasions with others. Perfume and fragrance should be properly purchased by men and women; at first, you should apply the perfume on your body and see to that whether it suits your skin. Generally all humans body differ and the smell comes from them also differs. So, when you purchase a perfume, first apply it on your skin and see that when it mixes with your odor, the original smell of the perfume never changes.

post by Jessica

For Ourselves or for Others?

Perfume really has a different status in today’s society, but why people wear perfume? Here is the poll made by Sonoma Scent Studio.

54% partly for others

According to the poll above, we can see that most people wear perfume partly for themselves and partly for others. That is, many people wear perfume as something of a fashion accessory. They might prefer wear something they think smells good, but even more importantly, they want it to smell good to others. Two major reasons. First, they want to be welcomed in their personal space, which is fragrant of course. This way, with the fragrance, they can enjoy the compliment from others. Second, when perusing any popular magazines, and we will see photos of glamorous men and women in advertisements for perfume and cologne. The fragrances are equated with sex appeal. As result, many men and women wear perfume and cologne when they want to appeal to the opposite sex, for example, go out to parties, and they believe the way they smell will determine whether they are attractive to others.

45% only for themselves

However, there are still quite a few people wear perfume for only themselves, because now, in this modern society, more and more men and women come to realize “self” is the most important thing Some wear perfume because of the smells they like, and the perfume can also symbolize their personal styles. Some wear perfume to show their moods and feelings, they change different kinds of perfumes with different moods. Still some wear perfume to remember others. For example, Queen, a famous blogger in Taiwan, once said in her blog that she wears perfume to remember her boyfriend when they are apart. She loves the smell, and the one having the smell as well. The perfume always brings up some memories, some good memories to her. “Everyone has his own fragrance, and if he or she gives us great impression, we will also fall in love with his or her fragrance .” she said.

Posted by Noly

Fragrance Advertisement

Fragrance adverts convince consumers of the product value through the dramatic visual, hearing, even through olfactory expressions which elicit consumers' emotional reaction, for scents are notoriously difficult to describe or evoke through language. Hence, fragrance adverts package "experiences" which seem to go beyond words and encourage the consumers to complete such experiences by using the products.

Hypnotic and persuasive techniques that most fragrance adverts adopt:

Wannabe Appeal
Mike Featherstone, a consumer culture scholar, indicates that individuals become role players and self-consciously monitor their performance in order to identify themselves. Appearance, gestures, and bodily demeanor become taken as expressions of self. Unsurprisingly, fragrance advertisement grabs the idea of "self-performance" and provides ideal images (stereotypes) of the masculine and feminine characteristics for individuals to follow.

Female wannabes portrayed in fragrance ads:

Classical Beauty One who is fair-skinned, acts gracefully, and dresses modestly without excessive accessories.

The Girl Next Door One who is sweet, spirited, and fond of outdoor activities.

The Sexy One whose facial expression and gesture invoke the erotic sensation.

The Smart One who is chic and adapts fashion into her personality. Usually one who takes a devil-may-care attitude toward everything.

Male wannabes portrayed in Fragrance ads:

The Sporty One who likes adventures and is energetic and athletic.


The Sexy One who is muscular and gives erotic feelings through his facial expression and gesture.


The Chic One who is stylish and lives an urban life e.g. yuppies.

The Family Man One devoted to his family.

Animations
Animation technique is primarily to reach the young target e.g. teenagers. Fantasies, dreams, and wonders captivate the viewers, believing that the products do have magical powers. Cartoon techniques range from full animations to characters rotoscoped in combination with the reality.



Scent Strip
Perfume advertising has bee greatly aided by the invention of scent stripes which will release their odor when scratched. The invention enables perfumes to advertise themselves directly through smell.
















Music
Music is powerful emotional shorthand. It can tell the viewers how to feel by evoking feelings- of joy, of love, of fear. The music ranges from popular to classic music. The music can be effective if it enhances the core idea of the product.

One of Chanel's perfumes, Coco Mademoiselle, adapts Nat King Cole's song called LOVE, which is performed by Joss Stone in the ad. The viewers are likely to be captivated by the background music since the lyrics invoke the romantic feeling between a lover and the beloved.

Reference
Routiedge Group Ltd, The Body: Critical Concept in Sociology (1 edition 28 Aug 2003), Andrew Blaikie, Aberdeen University Body Group, "The body in Consumer of Culture"(part 2)

A content Analysis of Male and Female cosmetics Advertisements in Magazines, Shu-fan Shui, Ching-wen Hsu, Institute of Communication Studies, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

written by Rachel

Celebrity Perfume

What do Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, David & Victoria Beckham, Michael Jordon and Maria Sarapova have in common? They are all celebrities that have launched lines of fragrances under their names.

White Diamond by Elizabeth Taylor, introduced in 1991, was the first success in celebrity perfume. Over a decade later, followed by this bestsellerdom was J.Lo’s Glow in 2004. Since then, celebrity perfumes caught on and more and more famous names join the business to claim their share. As the sale of luxury brand name perfumes falters in recent years, celebrity fragrance is now the fastest growing division in perfume industry (esp. in North America). For the manufacturers and those who throw money into creating their very own smell, what’s the appeal of celebrity perfumes?

*They can attract a percentage of buyers from the celebrity's fan base, cashing in on the public's desire to become celebrities. Those who want to learn something about David and Victoria Beckham's high-profile life style or anyone interested in the secrect to fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker, might spend money on the celebrity perfumes.

*Entertainment news, even scandals, can be a form of advertisement for celebrity scents. For example,when we didn't hear from Britney Spears after her childbirth, sales of her signature perfume Curious dropped; later, when a series of her wild escapades were seen on tabloids everyday, sales topped the celerity perfume chart. Users of Curious when asked what perfume they wear are sometimes embrassed in answering people's curiosity. Perhaps success of Britney's first perfume indicates that her fame is just a tool of promotion, and ultimately it's formula determines popularity.

*More than celebrities’ favorite scent or perfumes they endorsed, the celebs themselves have influential roles in sales of perfumes specially designed for who they are. Celebrities who are famous for sophisticated taste can attract buyers without big advertising budget.

*Perfumes named after celebrities are averagely lower-priced than designer scent, thus more affordable to teenage celebrity followers.
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In all, by incorporating the idea of celebrity into perfume, celebrity perfumes have a lot more possibilities in marketing.



Photos:

White Diamond by Elizabeth Taylor

Curious by Britney Spears
From Apple Daily





Act and dress like a celeb? Now smell like one

















Fragrance by real estate tycoon Donald Trump, smell of success?













Forbidden Fruit by Desperate Housewives, smell of menopause?

Twilight



Harajuku Lovers by Gwen Stefani


Inverno by Akemi Barbara Katsuki(香月明美)


Fragrance by Karen Mok, the first Asian celebrity to launch her perfume







“Perfume” signing






老師, I've finished all my blog writing (down on my knees)

work cited
http://ezineseeker.com/Health-And-Beauty---Celebrities-And-Perfumes/40519190/
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!rniFZWafEQ6ifnVjsqWaBCuA/article?mid=6177
http://www.karenmokfragrance.com/

Influences

The Numbers...

Perfume is everywhere.
There are 413 stores sells perfume in Taichung City, and the area of the city is 163.43 square kilometers.That means in Taichung City there is at least one store sells perfume every 3.5 kilometers; regardless the vast industrial and rural areas.
Perfume is easy to be seen, easy to get, and easy to enter into our lives.

Knock, Knock, Where is Perfume?

At Your Office
The high density of perfume stores indicates the usage of perfumes has become a part of culture. At workplaces, many female office workers are required to wear make ups and perfumes as basic office manner. Besides office manner, wearing perfumes become a kind of common sense as being professional for people in entertainment and service industry, and their taste of perfume turn into an indication of class; especially those who feel the need to present themselves dignifiedly at all time. In Japan, the number of “ikemen (pretty men),” men who value their appearance, is increasing rapidly mainly among the younger community.

At Your Home
Other than workplaces, perfume is fun. Perfume is fun to use, to talk about, and to watch. The giant fast food chain Burger King has launched new barbeque smell cologne that gives a toasted macho scent to enhance male fascination; in another word, to make guys smell more tasty. And the experts could analyze the characteristics of a person simply by their perfume preference. Taiwanese writer /actress, Shenna, published a book that includes personality tests by perfume. On the other hand, the movie Perfume: the Story of a Murderer is a remarkably sensational French movie that tells the fiction of a perfumer who murdered beautiful girls in order to pursuit his ultimate perfume. It really kills a girl for beauty. Also, perfume makes a perfect gift as a symbol of the giver’s appreciation and taste. At Valentine’s Day, the aromatic liquid in a tiny, delicate crystal bottle says it all and means more than anything else in the world.

In Your Mind
Perfume also contracts great impacts in our subconsciousness. An article in The Economist reveals that perfume boost male attraction to females in ways the guys act. Guys who use perfumes feel more confident about themselves and thus act it out subconsciously even in lifting a hand or moving a leg. No doubt, women do see the differences between fragrant guys and plain guys, and “all” of them wants to go out with guys not only smells good, but also looks good. Moreover, some people use perfume as an elevation to identify themselves with their ideal social groups. The best examples are the “Wannabe Appeal” section above.

Measures to Take
Perfume is everywhere, and its influence is in all places of life. However, perfume is not good in ways it materializes abstract essence such as relationships and reality. The commercial of Coco Mademoiselle along with Nate King Cole’s Love, portraits that Keira Knightley should chose and love perfume over a real companion. Sadly, perfume will not love you back, and it does not help in real life relationship. The means of communication, appreciation, forbearance, and mutual understanding is irreplaceable and is truly what supports relationship and love. In addition, using Burberry cologne does not equal becoming a British Yuppie, and it will not change the working shift nor the low overwork pay of reality.

The influence of perfume is great. But remember, live up to life because we are the center of everything in life; it is you who will fall in love with someone, and it is you that make things fashionable, not perfume.

-Kevin Chen

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Bibliography

Online sources:

news

楊政平, “漢堡味香水 很MAN的燒烤味”Dec. 18, 2008, TTV 台視新聞 <http://www.ttv.com.tw/097/12/0971218/09712184033901I.htm>

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何信彰, “扶桑男美妝業績高成長 中時電子報” Jan. 01, 2009, 中時電子報 >

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information data base

“Perfume” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume#History>


“關鍵字: 香水” hiPage, 中華黃頁, <http://hipage.hinet.net/list.asp?keyword=%u9999%u6C34&dist=0&addr=&loc=TaichungCity&qrytype=keyword>

personal sites

香娜 Shenna, 壹蘋果Blog, <http://blog.1-apple.com.tw/shenna/?0.882486576277>

videos

Non-Verbal Communication: Scent, expert village, Copyright © 2009 Demand Media, Inc. <http://www.expertvillage.com/video/133770_non-verbal-communication-scent.htm>