- If a fragrance ad confused you, it worked exactly the way it was supposed to.
A woman in a sheer sundress rides a donkey into a forest, where she meets a man dressed in nothing but jeans. They engage in an overtly suggestive ballet routine while being watched by three lizards.
“Sacre Bleu, a new fragrance by Dior,” a husky voice whispers.
We’ve all been left speechless by incomprehensible fragrance and perfume advertisements. And they just seem to be getting more and more bizarre as time goes on.
In case you’ve genuinely never seen one, though, we’re talking about stuff like this Dolce & Gabbana ad.
Why do fragrances always have such weird ads? Do the manufacturers have some kind of mutual agreement to make people as confused as possible or what’s going on?
Believe it or not, that’s kind of the reason why fragrance ads are the way they are. Let’s take a look at the weird world of advertising smells.
1. Sex Sells
First, let’s address the elephant in the room. Fragrance ads are often pretty dang sexual — in that bizarre way that makes us imagine this is what porn would be like if you described human sex to an alien and asked it to direct a smut film.
Well, there’s really no secret behind the overt sexuality. Sex just sells.
Fragrance manufacturers hire gorgeous women and hunky men to appear in their ads because, let’s face it, people like looking at gorgeous women and hunky men. That’s also partially why they wear bizarre revealing outfits.
If there’s skin worth showing, put the actress or actor in an outfit that shows it.
Then you have the fragrance ads that feature the latest Hollywood hottie, whoever it might be. Maybe, if you use this perfume, you might be just a little bit like them or attract somebody like them.
2. They Want You to Think ‘Luxury’
If there’s another thing that defines fragrance ads outside of weird sex stuff, it’s opulence. The people in the ads always seem to exist in an outlandish pocket dimension of pure luxury.
Not only are the actors beautiful, but they wear impeccably stylish garments made of the finest materials. They’re covered in jewelry worth thousands and thousands of dollars, they lounge on fabulous yachts in the Mediterranean, and drive the most powerful sports cars available.
It’s all because fragrances are a luxury product — especially the ones that get weird ads. Bottled smells from Burberry, Calvin Klein, or Chanel are often exorbitantly expensive per ounce.
That’s why the manufacturers cram as much opulence as possible into the ads. Sure, the fragrance costs a pretty penny, but wearing it just might swish you away to a world of sheer luxury.
Sorry, it won’t.
3. They’re Trying to Be Artsy
By this point in history, there’s an expectation for fragrance ads to be weird — at least within the industry. So, the smell manufacturers intentionally make their advertisements as strange and artsy as possible.
And you have to admit that the ads often aren’t lacking in technical production. They’re typically pretty masterful when it comes to using colors, lighting, camera angles, and visual storytelling to invoke emotions.
At the same time, the fragrance brands get to show off how much more creative they are than their competitors. They’ve essentially locked themselves in an endless struggle to out-weird each other again and again.
4. Weird Stands Out
What do you see if you go to a fragrance aisle or section in a store? Endless shelves filled with bottles with unintelligible French words printed on them.
But what’s this? “La Banana” by Francois de’Stink? Oh yeah, I remember that one — it had the ad with the orangutan and the basketball.
Just for clarity, we made up that fragrance. But it does illustrate our point.
Fragrances are generally pretty indistinguishable from each other when they sit on store shelves. But by making absolutely mind-boggling ads, the brands are banking on you remembering their products just because they confused the hell out of you.
5. It’s Hard to Advertise a Smell
Each of the points we made before is true. But they’re all symptoms of the same core problem — it’s really difficult to sell a smell.
Think about it. Car manufacturers can show how fast and stylish their cars are, skincare product brands can flaunt actors with flawless skin, and so on.
But how do you communicate a smell? Fragrance brands can exactly waft the scent into your living room through your TV.
Sure, they could try to describe the scent to you in words. But would you remember which fragrance is the one that has, say, the refreshing aroma of Spanish peaches intermingling with gentle notes of bergamot and a wet yak?
No, you wouldn’t. So, instead of trying to tell you what the fragrance smells like, they’ll show you Zendaya riding a horse through downtown LA.
They do it because they know it’s weird — and people remember weird stuff.