Let’s face it, perfumes and aftershaves are more often than not marketed on sex appeal. Fragrance adverts are full of young sexy toned and tanned models in provocative poses. Of course perfumes aren’t the only products promoted on sex appeal. I mean who can forget those Calvin Klein underwear adverts featuring Marky Mark Wahlberg? But some perfume adverts tread a fine line. Case in point, the latest Calvin Klein advert for Secret Obsession featuring Eva Mendes which was banned in the US by network censors for being too provocative. The point is that the premise behind these adverts is that by wearing perfume X or aftershave Y, you too can be as sexually appealing as the models in those adverts. Even the names of some perfumes are suggestive - 212 Sexy, Allure, Irresistible, Lovely and the list goes on. But is this just marketing hype or is there some reality in this? Can wearing perfume or aftershave really make you sexier?
A lot has been made of the link between our sense of smell and the way we feel and it’s now a well established fact that certain smells can evoke different feelings of calm, excitement or wellbeing. But how does this relate to sex appeal? Putting aside for a minute the whole pheromone/body chemistry side of things, sex appeal has a lot to do with body language and how we behave. After all, a confident person (and I say confident, not arrogant) has a certain appeal to the opposite sex.
So how does this relate to wearing perfume or aftershave? Well a recent study conducted by Unilever and the University of Liverpool in the UK aimed to find out. What made this study so interesting however, was the fact that they were not interested in smell at all but rather how just the act of wearing, in this instance, deodorant could make men more attractive. It all sounds a bit unbelievable I know but bear with me.
To begin with, women were asked to rate the looks of a group of men based solely on their photographs. The men were then divided into two groups and half were given a fragranced deodorant product while the other half received an unscented variety which they then had to use for two days. Two days later, the men were recorded on video talking about themselves for 15 seconds. Now here’s where it really gets interesting, the women then watched the video clips without any sound and were asked to rate the men again and (are you paying attention men) without knowing how the men actually smelt, they gave much higher scores to those who had been using the fragranced deodorant.
So what does all this mean? Well, the men were interviewed after the experiment and those that had worn the fragranced deodorant said that they felt that their self-esteem had actually risen during the experiment. This increase in self-esteem and confidence would most likely have come across in their body language and been picked up, albeit subconsciously, by the women. The conclusion from this study seems to be that anything that can boost your self-confidence as a man, in this case wearing a fragranced deodorant, can make you more sexually appealing to women.
I think it’s safe to say that the same principle applies whether you’re male or female and if you’re wearing deodorant, perfume or aftershave. Just by wearing something that makes you feel good about yourself makes you feel more self-confident and that in turn, makes you more sexually appealing. It looks like those sexy perfume adverts are based on some truth after all. So next time you hand over your hard earned cash on a fragrance product, be it perfume or aftershave, know that whether you realise it or not, you actually are getting more for your money than just nice smelling water, you may actually be getting bottled sex appeal. As far as the tan and the perfect body on the model in the perfume advert, that’s a little more difficult to achieve.
