Bread smell as a symbol of physical manipulating in commerce.
In the 21st century, we have become very sensitive to accepting information and protecting our privacy and rights. It is not a surprise anymore almost every website has notice banners saying ‘Do you allow or block cookies'. If you accept cookies for example, this means that you allow the website and browser to save your personal data and this data could be used for other purposes. Catherine Cote, a marketing coordinator, says: ‘Data can be used to drive decisions and make an impact at scale. Yet, this powerful resource comes with challenges. How can organizations ethically collect, store, and use data? What rights must be upheld?’ What happens if these data, consent, and decision-making concepts come into our physical world, especially smell in public spaces which could affect our body and mind directly.
Scent marketing is a strategy where businesses use specific fragrances at the customer on purpose. Bread smell is a specific commercial marketing example. Most of us have experienced walking near a bakery or bakery section in a supermarket and then we are suddenly craving bread. This is not a coincidence. There is another reason why that bread is baked in public next to the reason trying to provide fresh bread to customers. Humans are triggered by smells of carbs and fat. We are hard-coded to drool immediately and our stomaches start to growl when we smell those. We don’t even realize the physical behaviour and phycological changes at that moment because it is deep
down in our brain which is connected to a primary human instinct.
When we come to think of it, are these bakeries forcing us to accept this smell information and use it for their revenue in a way? While the small banners in a browser mentioned earlier are asking for our permission to collect and use personal data, shouldn’t the businesses who operate scent marketing need to ask for our permission as well because it manipulates our bodies and impacts our daily life directly? Imagine people who are on a strict diet, they would probably prefer not to smell anything mouth-watering since it’s not easy to ignore the smell as a biological being.
Meanwhile, are we ab
le to reject this smell? Is it really possible to control smells in public spaces? Naomi, a science communicator states that: ‘A smell is created when a substance releases molecules (particles) into the air. For us to detect the smell, those molecules need to enter our noses. ….. Smells travel through the air by a process called diffusion; air particles, and the odor particles within the air, move freely in all directions. They are constantly moving and eventually, they spread out through the air around them.’ Is there a way to modify the direction of air particles, or deny molecules to enter our bodies? In addition to that, how far can a smell travel and what is the speed of smell? How do we measre the strength of a smell? And what kind of smells do we need to control?
Smell preferences prototype
We need to think about how we want to regulate and consent to accept smell like the above-mentioned bread smell which benefits specific businesses financially. If it impacts our body and mind without noticing, it could also raise ethical issues. Then it’s time to reconsider if it should be legal especially some businesses even invented artificial smells to lure customers in.
Another question to designers is how can we define and design the space for the smell. How tall the space should be if we need to redefine space for a scent by law, and who makes a decision for it? Is it even feasible to ask for consent technically from the people who pass nearby the space? There are lots of unanswered questions and designers can and should play a role in answering them.
