Customer Experience And Scent Marketing In Antiquity And The Perplexing Nature Of Rose Perfume

What was it like to visit a market stall or a shop in antiquity and purchase a perfume? How good was the customer service? What were the customer’s expectations and general beliefs around scent?

Gender defined perfumes

Gender stereotypes in perfume marketing and production are recurrent trends and have been around for over 2,000 years. In antiquity, lighter floral perfumes made from rose, henna and lily blossoms were intended for men. If a man was caught wearing rich, spicy, or musky scents, he was perceived as a weak and self-absorbed individual. On the other hand, women could wear any perfume, light or heavy. However, they preferred fragrances with longer-lasting performance, good sillage, and substantial character produced by heavier notes of aromatic woods, spices, resins, and moss. Thus, it was a common selling tactic to recommend products and approach customers based on their gender and their different needs.

At first glance, it may seem that women were spared from gender discrimination when choosing and wearing perfumes. However, unfortunately, there are no first-hand records that could provide clues on women’s view on this subject and their experiences as perfume consumers. It is because manuscripts from this period that have survived were written by men and only recount their thoughts and opinions on this matter.

Gender oriented marketing tricks people into believing that they should desire a particular product just because of their gender. Even though modern trends, tastes, values and beliefs are rapidly changing and moving away from these stereotypes, it is still a standard practice for most perfumeries in big department stores to display perfumes for women and men separately. Furthermore, pastel colours, decorative ribbons, curved bottles with pink perfumes inside dominate the displays intended for women. Darker colours, like navy blue, grey or black, and more angular bottles, are aimed at men. Many would argue that this is done to save customers time and help them find quickly and efficiently what they need. However, there is another way how to achieve similar, if not better, results, and that is by displaying perfumes by their type. Scent preferences are not accidental. They are linked to a person’s genotype, particularly the major histocompatibility complex (genes that play an essential role in sexual attraction via body odour).