How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-Advertisers-Convinced-Americans-They-Smelled-Bad-164779646.html?c=y&story=fullstory

by e1ven • 14 years ago

180 143 14 years ago

smithsonianmag.com

TazeTSchnitzel• 14 years ago

Quite a few markets were created overnight. This is just one of them.

Another that comes to mind is bottled water. When soft drink company profits were declining, someone had the brilliant idea of just selling water. How would they get people to be gullible enough to buy rebottled tap water, though?

By telling people tap water was bad. It worked, very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0

jcnnghm• 14 years ago

Sometimes tap water is bad. I lived in a house with extremely hard water, and it was basically undrinkable. Of course, I was generally buying water in gallon or 2.2 gallon containers at the time.

When I buy bottled water today, I want an unflavored drink that is healthy. In my view, what I am actually paying for is not water. I am paying for a disposable bottle, convenience, and usually cold. That's why I pay extra for the sport bottles with the better top. There was probably latent demand for this, but people didn't know they actually wanted it. In general, at least in the US, because of the abundance created over the last 30 years through the production of cheap manufactured goods and innumerable process improvements, people are more willing to pay for things they never would have before.

And also, I am glad they succeeded in selling deodorant. It is definitely a quality of life improvement, as I notice when I visit places where deodorant usage is not prevalent. I generally don't view marketing as adversarial like many people though. If something exists that will improve my life, I want to know about it.

benatkin• 14 years ago

It's only convenient because you aren't prepared. Sometimes there are good reasons to not be prepared, but if you're bringing a car or a backpack along, you have a place to store water. Also it's a bit odd how much Americans obsess over water being ice cold.

darkarmani3• 14 years ago

A carbon filter will pretty much fix that for you and give you bottle water quality.

arethuza3• 14 years ago

Quite a lot of places have tap water that tastes foul but is perfectly healthy - personally I think the water in London tastes disgusting compared to the water here in Edinburgh, but that's because I am used to the latter.

When I moved to Edinburgh from a small town in Moray that got its water from the Spey I thought Edinburgh tap water tasted disgusting.

disgruntledphd22• 14 years ago

I moved from Ireland to London last year, and personally found the water in London to be all but undrinkable.

Even when I moved back, I still hated the taste of tap water, and am now moving over to bottled water as regardless of anything else, it tastes so much better, therefore I drink more, which is good for me. Its disgraceful that I have to do this, but that's another argument.

frou_dh3• 14 years ago

Which town in Moray if you don't mind saying?

subsection1h• 14 years ago

I've used PUR water filters for years. The filters don't indicate when they need to be changed, so I change them when they start filtering water slowly. In the past, when I lived in Los Angeles and Portland, filters would start filtering water slowly after a few months of use.

Now I live near Madison, Wisconsin, and I realized recently that my current filter has been in use for more than a year and it filters water just as quickly as the day I started using it. I contacted PUR to see if there might be something wrong with my dispenser, but the rep suggested that my city's water must be very clean.

So I learned that some cities have water that is much cleaner than others.

bitwize• 14 years ago

Honolulu has sweet-tasting tap water...

pnathan• 14 years ago

Uh... actually... Most city water (in the US) I've drunk tastes really bad. It's not just marketing.

So we buy filtered water in bulk (refill multi-gallon jugs). There are also filters you can put on the tap. I think it's wasteful to buy bottled water, so I avoid it.

amtshrma• 14 years ago

So successful advertising = playing on people's weaknesses?

HotKFreshSwag• 14 years ago

In some cases, yes.

ankeshk• 14 years ago

James Webb Young is a copywriting legend. You should read his ads to realize how problem focused ads work better than benefit focused ads.

You first have to raise the problem before you list your solution and benefits.

His full page ad: "Curve of a Woman’s Arm"

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YC6YKYyHVKwC&pg=PA30&...

(If the above long link doesn't work, go to books.google.com and search for the book "The 100 Greatest Advertisements: Who Wrote Them and what They Did" - the ad is on page 30.)

6ren• 14 years ago

Doesn't work (page limit exceeded), but this one does: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YC6YKYyHVKwC&lpg=PA30...

Google books has a link button (6th icon from the left, looks like a chain link). It took me a while to spot it, even when looking for it.

sp332• 14 years ago

it presented “excessive perspiration” as an embarrassing medical ailment in need of a remedy.

I think the condition of "halitosis" was similarly invented.

Falling3• 14 years ago

I take it you've never worked closely with someone who had it.

fusiongyro2• 14 years ago

Amen. Someone at my workplace has it--you can tell if they spoke in a room up to twenty minutes after they leave just by the smell.

danso• 14 years ago

I hate to plug a book that I'm only 20% of the way in, but everyone here who is designing/selling a product would get a real kick out of Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-Business-ebook/dp/B005...

(Duhigg is a NYT writer and that piece about how Target knew that a girl was pregnant before her father did was an excerpt from this book)

When I saw the HN headline I thought it might be referring to Febreze, a product that Duhigg devotes a chapter to. The sales strategy wasn't about convincing people that they stunk, but pitching Febreze as a product that you used after you cleaned a room, to associate it with the "reward" of a clean room.

Duhigg's book also touches on how Pepsodent became a breakthrough product partly because an ad-man convinced Americans they needed to battle the film that naturally covers their teeth.

corin_• 14 years ago

> Instead, most people’s solution to body odor was to wash regularly and then to overwhelm any emerging stink with perfume.

Doesn't sound like they had to convince anyone they smelled bad, just that there was a new, more effective way to prevent it.

edit: My bad, read on and actually to an extent the headline is correct, so I withdraw my complaint.

mhurron• 14 years ago

Unfortunately that is still most peoples solution to the problem and they still stink to high heaven.

Lets see some marketers do some good in the world, get them to realize that BO smells bad, a gallon of perfume/cologne smells bad and BO and a gallon of perfume/cologne together makes you smell worse.

rauljara• 14 years ago

The best[1] advertising is the kind that informs people that a solution to their very real problems exists.

The worst[1] advertising is the kind that convinces you you have a problem you don't really have. It aims to make unhappy with what you have or who are when you would otherwise have been content.

Sometimes it seems to me like our society gets shaped more by the worst kinds of advertising than the best.

[1] By best and worst, I mean most beneficial to the person/people viewing the advertisement. An advertiser or deodorant executive would probably have a different opinion on the matter.

clarky073• 14 years ago

While I agree with your point, you seem to be suggesting that you'd put this example on the worst side of things. I'd say that everyone smelling bad is a problem and I'm really glad somebody solved that problem.

mbreese2• 14 years ago

Or do you think that way because you've always assumed it was a problem? It isn't until our most insecure moments of adolescence that we really start sweating enough to require deodorants. What better time to strike at insecurities to sell a product for life? And after all these years, it certainly is a reinforcing loop. for example, you don't see ads trying to convince you that body odor is an issue - that's assumed.

Not that I disagree with you, I think that the mix of increased population density in cities combined with chemistry made it all but inevitable. But the cynic in me finds the idea of self propagating ad campaigns brilliant.

ImprovedSilence2• 14 years ago

I don't wear deodorant, I usually have no need for it. I've asked girlfriends and friends, nobody ever notices anything smelly. I do well at my job. The only time I'm excessively sweaty and smelly is when I work out. I would bet this is the case for a good percentage of the population, it's just that most people don't realize it, because they've been told they need it since the 4th grade, and never went a day without it since...

njharman• 14 years ago

People (taken as a whole) thinking our natural smell is "bad" is the direct result of advertising (well originally, the advertisers have so dominated society's collective mind we now aide them through peer pressure, etc).

This "problem" is constructed and would not exist without a profit motive.

duwease• 14 years ago

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darkarmani3• 14 years ago

If it wasn't for advertising, I never would have known that "previously loved" diamonds are inferior to blood diamonds. Or that man-made chemically pure diamonds are frauds and only mined diamonds have any value.

talmand• 14 years ago

Don't forget that buying a diamond engagement ring has been a tradition dating back to before "your favorite historical figure from over two hundred years ago's" time.

Or is it five hundred years? I forget.

newscasta• 14 years ago

This is a good article on that phenomenon:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you...

powertower12• 14 years ago

Do you know what the bigger story is here?

You can purchase a mineral salt-rock crystal (it's a smooth solid peace of salt, about as cheap as it gets) "de-odorant" that you wet and apply, it leaves nothing behind except an undetectable amount of salt on the skin. That is ... no chemicals, no fragrances, nothing but salt.

That salt kills-off the bacteria that are responsible for odor (through various means, directly and indirectly).

After a week or two of this, you're done. Your sweat lessens, and becomes clear and odorless.

No more deodorant is required after this. Just shower and apply some soap to your skin.

The bigger story here is that advertisers have convinced you that their more expensive "formulas" are required, and there are no good alternatives.

Their products are specifically designed not to kill-off the bacteria, and hence to keep you purchasing the product.

They do this because you can't make money selling a $1 peace of salt-rock that lasts the customer a life-time.

Roritharr• 14 years ago

Is this true? Any references? Experiences?

powertower12• 14 years ago

The above is my personal experience, with absolute-zero story exaggeration. Though how long you'll need to apply the salt may vary (and how frequent you'll use it).

I don't have a preference for any brand (it's all the same) but here is what I have now: http://www.thecrystal.com/

You should be able to buy these in any good organic food and health store.

dalke3• 14 years ago

It's ammonium alum or potassium alum. Sometimes derisively called "hippie deodorant." It is not an antiperspirant. There are all sorts of alternatives that people use as deodorants, including lemon juice, baking soda, and tea oils.

geekagirl2• 14 years ago

I've got pretty sensitive skin and anti-persperant caused it to crack and even bleed. So I tried the rock salt/crystal kind of deodorant. My local supermarket carries it, should I ever run out, but I've had the same one for seven or eight years now. It works pretty well for me.

I also shave my underarms, which probably helps -- less surface area for bacteria to grow and sweat dries faster. If I'm wearing a tight shirt, I'll sometimes use baby powder in case I sweat, but in general it hasn't been a problem.

I bike to work occasionally, but usually change my shirt and wipe the sweat off with an alcohol wet-wipe. That helps as well.

Also, natural fibers are your friend! I will get stinky if I wear a polyester or rayon shirt all day, but that happens even if I wear normal deodorant.

heironimus• 14 years ago

No references, but in my family's experiences, it never works for some and it works great for others, but only as long as you use it. The day you forget, the stink comes right back.

tomjen3• 14 years ago

Wouldn't you still need to prevent the sweat in the first place? I mean even if it doesn't smell it is still annoying and visible on shirts, etc.

And there is no reason to sell a 1 usd stone. You can properly sell it for 50.

loceng3• 14 years ago

Sweat doesn't inherently smell. The foods you eat affect how you smell, though not specifically because of your sweat. If you eat a lot of spicy food then your whole body will be releasing those aromas.

RyanMcGreal2• 14 years ago

I've tried using that in the past. It didn't work very well.

powertower12• 14 years ago

You have to apply it on clean/washed (after-shower) skin, not apply anything else, and use it consistently every day for a few weeks. It's also not an anti-perspirant. It just kills-off the bacteria. I suppose YMMV with how well it works for you, depending on what you're looking to get out of it, and how extensive the bacteria colonies are on the skin, and below the surface.

glenra3• 14 years ago

Ditto. I have used "Crystal" off and on and my experience has been that it doesn't reduce odor or sweating nearly as well as something like Speed Stick.

loceng3• 14 years ago

The foundation to this is there is more profit to be made selling something magical with a big marketing budget, and therefore it's what gets mass exposure.

enko• 14 years ago

Interesting. I might give that a try.

On a more conventional note, while we're recommending deodorants, this is hands down the best I have ever used: http://www.amazon.com/MenScience-12031-Advanced-Deodorant-2-...

That is the only deodorant I've ever encountered which can last me through 4 hours of chatting in a hot stuffy bar, which was truly a revelation to me, silly as that may sound. No association with the product other than as a customer.

dpark6• 14 years ago

> no chemicals, no fragrances, nothing but salt.

The "rock crystal" you're using contains either potassium alum or ammonium alum, both of which are both chemicals (so for that matter is water and everything else).

And FYI, aluminium chlorohydrate (one of the "harsh chemicals" that Crystal-brand deodorant claims not to contain) is also a salt, and indeed used in water purification just like the alums. I believe that aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly is also a salt (or rather contains a salt), but I'm not certain.

All the major antiperspirants and deodorants are aluminum-based.

> After a week or two of this, you're done. Your sweat lessens, and becomes clear and odorless. > No more deodorant is required after this. Just shower and apply some soap to your skin.

This is not a claim that Crystal makes. They specifically indicate that their rock lasts about a year. They don't even claim that it has antiperspirant qualities, just deodorant qualities.

There is no magic salt that you can rub on your skin for a week that stops you from sweating and smelling indefinitely.

> Their products are specifically designed not to kill the bacteria, and hence to keep you purchasing the product.

This is ridiculous conspiracy theory. Their products are designed to stop people from smelling. No one is sitting around twisting their mustache and creating deodorants and antiperspirants that specifically protect underarm bacteria.

You're also covered in bacteria. Even if Crystal managed to kill all the bacteria under your arms, it would be back the next day. If sanitizing your underarms was sufficient to get rid of odor and sweat indefinitely, then a big iodine swab would do the job faster and even cheaper.

powertower12• 14 years ago

> This is not a claim that Crystal makes.

They make several claims.

It's also a claim I've made based on personal experience with both "mineral salt crystals" (alum - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum) and regular deodorant, and knowing the ingredients in both and how those ingredients affect bacteria.

> even if Crystal managed to kill all the bacteria under your arms, it would be back the next day.

One killed off all odor causing bacteria after a few weeks (I no longer have to use it, maybe once a week). The other just kept it masked even after YEARS of use. I'll let you guess which one that was.

> No one is sitting around twisting their mustache and creating deodorants and antiperspirants that specifically protect underarm bacteria.

No, they just don't put the same amount of alum in their products to make it effective. Their game is to mask the odor, and not to prevent it from happening again. LTV of customer is the #1 metric in business.

> a big iodine swab would do the job faster and even cheaper.

Never tried it. But if it works for you, use it.

glenra3• 14 years ago

If you drop that piece of salt rock it breaks, as does the container holding it. Even if you don't drop it, it doesn't last forever, nor does sweat become "odorless" after "a week or two" of using it. (I've used Crystal off and on).

My suspicion is that you just aren't prone to sweat very much, or can't smell yourself. Did you notice that the salt rock itself smells bad once you've ever used it, whereas sticks don't?

I'm willing to concede the possibility that it works as you describe for you, but your experience isn't universal. It didn't work that way at all for me; I went back to mostly using the sticks because the salt rock didn't work very well.

Though when you say "just shower and apply some soap to your skin", that could work if you were using a deodorant soap. :-)

powertower12• 14 years ago

> Did you notice that the salt rock itself smells bad once you've ever used it, whereas sticks don't?

Never. You would always put it under a stream before (to moisten up a layer) and after you use it (to clean it). And only after you've showered and washed with soap first.

It sounds to me like people are not using it correctly and consistently, are mixing it with regular deodorant, or have very extensive bacterial colonies on skin and transdermally.

Aloisius• 14 years ago

My experience with people who use these kinds of products is that they seem to have acclimated to their own odor. One can acclimate pretty quickly to nearly any odor no matter how foul, so it isn't all that surprising.

They still don't smell nice, but they don't seem to notice it.

jonhendry5• 14 years ago

"They do this because you can't make money selling a $1 peace of salt-rock that lasts the customer a life-time."

Your preferred brand can't either, they sell it for $7.

jonhendry5• 14 years ago

I tried it once. It gave me a rash.

gbog2• 14 years ago

Very cultural thing. I'd rather sit beside someone with a slight body odor than beside someone with a strong artificial deodorant perfume, especially when eating. Hope one day all these irrational and costly behaviors will go away. Another is shaving pubic hair, what a weird thing to do...

function_seven• 14 years ago

Why is that weird? I don't consider it any more or less weird than shaving your face, cutting your hair, trimming nose hairs, etc.

WiseWeasel2• 14 years ago

Well, it does make your cockstrom look bigger. But seriously, it's a jungle down there otherwise.

I'd be more concerned about circumcision, if you want to question social mores, since it's a much more permanent and painful cut than the surrounding hair.

gbog2• 14 years ago

Circumcision is something people do for either religious or medical reason, it has a long history behind it. It may be useless but at least it is not invented yesterday by the chemical or porn industry.

For the "jungle down", I think shaving it make boys and girls look like prepubescent kids, or some kid of caricature of kids. When I said weird I meant it because presence of pubic hair has been for a long time the marker of the beginning of sexual life.

siddMahen• 14 years ago

This reminds me of a fantastic radio show I used to listen to in Canada called the Age of Persuasion (http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/age-persuasion-from-cbc-r...). Great read.

Sodaware• 14 years ago

One thing that surprised me about American TV is just how many adverts were for medical products. Every time I watch TV here I find out about another dozen or so problems I didn't know I had that need to be cured.

jonhendry5• 14 years ago

It didn't used to be like that.

lsc2• 14 years ago

yeah, even in my lifetime. Personally, I find it pretty amusing, because either they don't tell you what the drug does at all, just "ask your doctor about wonderfulonium!" with you know, pictures of happy people, or they do tell you what it does, the list off all the horrible things it can do to you.

It's funny; I moved out before Viagra came to market, and didn't watch much any commercial TV. Of course, I was bombarded, like everyone else, with spam and other online advertisements for viagra.

But yeah, the first time I saw a viagra ad on television, I was visiting my parents, and I couldn't stop laughing. I mean, this was something advertised in spam, and thus something linked in my mind to dubious 'penis enlargement' pills, girls who "saw my profile online" and 419 scams. Not the sort of thing you expect to see on broadcast television. (I'm not casting aspersions on viagra the drug... just the marketing I had been exposed to associated it, in my mind, with dramatically... less legitimate products.)

ericcholis• 14 years ago

This reminds me of Gillette or Keurig. Make a common product or need disposable. Why? Not to fill a need or create a new service/method for doing something. Just, because, that's why. Nickle and dime the consumer by preying on their laziness and putting a shiny package or vibrating handle on it...

evilduck• 14 years ago

That specific market story is even worse since cartridge razors and canned shaving creams or gels generally provide an inferior shave for the majority of men. The only major benefit is that they can be used without any skill or practice whatsoever and the modern version may shave a couple minutes off your morning shave.

On the other hand, a safety razor will last you a lifetime, replacement blades have been standardized for close to a century and even the "premium" brands cost less than $0.15/blade. A nice quality safety razor and wetshaving set can be had for about the price of 6 months of cartridge razor replacement blades, and beyond that, you can probably buy a lifetime supply of safety razor blades for around $200. Shaving cream will cost you about the same either way, so it's not a factor.

jff• 14 years ago

I happily use a safety razor, but I won't pretend that it's any more convenient or necessarily gives a better shave. I always found that my disposable or cartridge razors worked quite well, and shaving cream is of course a hell of a lot easier than whipping up the soap.

The convenience of a modern razor, including the fact that it's much easier to learn, makes it worthwhile. Everybody on HN is always talking about how they simplify their lives by throwing away everything except their macbook and a few day's worth of clothes or whatever; I think for most people the simplicity and ease of a disposable razor and a can of shaving cream beats saving a few bucks a year.

Shorel• 14 years ago

> Shaving cream will cost you about the same either way, so it's not a factor.

It is the main factor. The prime reason wet-shaving works so well is the preparation (hot towel, lather), not the razor.

I'm writing from my own experience.

_delirium2• 14 years ago

Imo this is a bigger cultural issue than solely deodorant, though it's quite possible deodorant marketing had a role in creating it. I've noticed Americans tend to be more worried about perspiration than others who live in similar climates, to the extent of entirely avoiding outdoor activity in hot climates during the work day, lest they return from lunch break sweaty. In Greece people aren't really similarly worried about walking 5 blocks to grab lunch, even if it's hot out.

jschuur• 14 years ago

I'm just amazed at the amount of ad copy that they thought people were willing to read back then.

nutanc• 14 years ago

Another product which does similar advertising, but convinces their color of skin could be better is http://www.fairandlovely.in/

Guess even the name has a subtle meaning, be fair "and" you become lovely :)

learc83• 14 years ago

I wonder how much our attitude towards body odor changed because of advertising and how much was a direct result of indoor plumbing and urbanization.

Around the same time as some of these advertisements started, indoor plumbing was becoming popular. Until then it wasn't really practical to bathe every day.

Additionally, odor didn't matter as much if you worked on a farm, but urbanization meant Americans spent more time indoors in close proximity, where smell was more of a problem.

colomon• 14 years ago

Also body odor is going to be less noticeable if everyone around you is smoking up a storm...

_delirium2• 14 years ago

Possibly A/C also. A/C both makes it easier to avoid perspiration (which may make that more of a norm) and makes it more necessary because you no longer have fresh air from open windows.

dkrich• 14 years ago

I sat next to a guy on the bus today who made me realize that if somebody can invent a breath mint that lasts for 24 hours our society will be much better off. And that picture alone in an advertisement could sell a couple million.

nasmorn2• 14 years ago

Through self experiment I found out that soap does nothing to remove armpit smell for me. It works just for 10 minutes and that is because most soap has some amount of perfume in it masking smell. Anti-perspirant on the other hand works very well. So I wonder who convinced us to wash parts of our body that are not covered in hydrophobic substances with soap? Since I stopped using it my skin is significantly less oily thus I don't need soap to remove it anymore.

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How Advertisers Convinced Americans They Smelled Bad

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