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Does it matter if it smells? Olfactory stimuli as advertising executional cues

Despite the limited empirical evidence about the effectiveness of olfactory cues in advertising, firms are increasingly using such cues in their advertisements. The authors examine the effects of olfactory cues that are used as a novelty, as opposed to a product sample, on consumer attitudes. The results show that the addition of a more congruent scratch-and-sniff panel to an advertisement improves neither attitude toward the ad nor attitude toward the brand. Further, the addition of a poorer-fitting scent actually lowers attitudes among individuals who are more motivated to process. Those results appear to be a function of the mood evoked by the scented advertisement and of the scent's perceived pleasantness in the advertising context.

Executional cues have been the focus of much advertising research. Visual cues (pictures) and aural cues (music) have been studied extensively, yet virtually no attention has been paid to the influence of olfactory cues in advertising despite the growing trend among advertisers to use scents in ads. Scents often have been used in advertisements for products in which scent is a primary attribute (e.g., perfumes, room fresheners) and, when used in that context, are a form of sampling. However, scents have also been used for products for which scent has been considered largely irrelevant. For instance, Tanqueray gin ran a pine-scented ad in USA Today, Rolls Royce advertised its cars in Architectural Digest using leather-scented strips, and the State of Utah used floral- and spice-scented panels in a four-page tourism ad. Though such uses may be intended simply as novelties, research suggests that odors can influence mood state (Baron 1990; Ehrlichman and Bastone 1992; Knasko 1992) and affect judgment (Baron 1990; Bone and Jantrania 1992; Spangenberg, Crowley and Henderson 1996). Therefore, the use of scents in advertising warrants attention.

Odors differ in several ways from the pictures and sounds more familiar to advertising researchers. Compared to visual and aural cues, odors are difficult to recognize, are relatively difficult to label, may produce false alarms and create placebo effects. Schab (1991), in a review of the literature, concluded that the ability to attach a name to a particular odor is so limited that individuals, on average, can identify only 40% to 50% of odors in a battery of common odors. Additionally, consumer ability to detect and recognize odors is influenced by surrounding cues (Davis 1981). For example, a consumer is more likely to recognize a lemon scent when the scent is contained in a yellow liquid than when it is contained in a red liquid. Third, false alarms, perceiving an odor when in reality no odor is present, are relatively common (Engen 1972). Finally, researchers have shown that both emotional and physical states can be affected just by believing an odor is present. The odorant itself need not be present (Knasko, Gilbert, and Sabini 1990). That finding suggests placebo effects.

Despite the difficulties, olfactory cues hold appeal to advertisers working in an already cluttered environment. Olfactory responses are primarily autonomic, affecting a person physiologically before affecting cognition. Odors stimulate the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotional responses. Thus, olfaction represents a different path to the consumer than is afforded by other types of cues.

We examined a consumer-controlled odor delivery system (scratch-and-sniff panels) as opposed to ambient systems to (1) explore the usefulness of olfactory stimuli as an executional cue in influencing attitude toward the ad (Aad) and attitude toward the brand (Ab), (2) determine whether those effects are moderated by motivation to process and cue fit, and (3) examine the mediators of processes that may underlie olfactory cue effects (i.e., mood, hedonic transfer of scent pleasantness, and cognitions).

Mediators: Why Odors May Influence Attitudes

More than 60 years ago, Laird (1932) found evidence that olfactory cues could affect consumer judgments. His investigation showed that women's judgments about hosiery quality were influenced significantly by the addition of an unrelated scent. More recently, Bone and Jantrania (1992) found that odors that "fit" the product (such as lemon scent for a household cleaning solution) improved product evaluations. Additionally, using a simulated retailing environment, Spangenberg, Crowley, and Henderson (1996) found that store evaluations, and one of three different product evaluations, were improved when a "non-offensive" ambient odor was present. The ability to affect consumer judgments may be a function of several possible mediators: mood, hedonic transfer of perceived pleasantness, and cognition.