Perfume to keep people happy at work?

Lemon scent for motivation, jasmine for concentration... is aromachology going to enter the
office and dictate the way we work?

by Renaud Legrand . 30/08/01

In 1988, Dr. Shizuo Torii, professor at the University of Toho (Japan), undertook research about how smells influence our psyches (the topic is known as aromachology), by measuring the brain's reaction to a variety of olfactory sensations. The results showed that perfume does more than just smell good. Scents aren't just one of life's little pleasures; they actually affect our moods, too. Lemon and peppermint, for instance, have a stimulating effect; nutmeg, sage and lavender are soothing; rosemary, jasmine and cinnamon help our concentration; cypress and lemon are efreshing... the list goes on.
Right away, some large Japanese corporations aught scent of Dr. Torii's discoveries and decided to put them into effect in the workplace. One of the pioneers was the Kajima Corporation. With a little help from Shisheido, in the early 90s they installed scent vents in their offices. The fragrance changed over the course of the day: lemon to refresh and motivate the troops in the morning, flowers for concentration in the middle of the day, and a mossy scent in the evening to help people relax.

A moral issue?

It was an important discovery, but one that has never gone past the experimental stage in Japan, nor has it been repeated elsewhere. Not even in the U.S., where people are more open to new ideas and lifestyles. As though there were a moral issue involved. "Is it right to condition people and influence their mood without their consent?," is how Nicole Dalmasseau of IFF laboratories raises the issue. Isn't there a danger of manipulation, of a loss of personal freedom for the sake of productivity? Of course, we all know that movie theaters deliberately waft the smell of popcorn around their lobbies in order to make our mouths' water; but isn't there a difference between a not-very-discreet sales pitch and a nearly subliminal attempt to increase workers' productivity through perfume?

Pure pleasure

In any case, subsequent research has been focused more on wafting scents into public spaces
"with a will towards creating a sense of place," according to Isabelle Ehrmann from French Shiseido Public relations department. Just like music and interior decorating, fragrances can create an atmosphere, define a space and make it more pleasant to be in. Japan is ahead of the pack once again. They've tried everything from scented phone booths to alarm clocks that release pine and eucalyptus scents before the alarm goes off. Above and beyond these audacious ideas, which could strike you as little more than silly gadgets, there is one domain in which aromachology has definitely found its niche: that is the field of "well-being". For guests' comfort, spas and thalassatherapy centers from India and Asia to Morocco and Tunisia now waft stress-reducing essential oils into their relaxation rooms.

Olfactive atmospheres

France has had its share of sweet-smelling ideas too. They are all the nicer in that they are shared by everyone, every day. Among others, since 1998, the Parisian metro system has been adding the fragrance "Madeleine" (which is also the name of a metro station) to its cleaning products. In the elevators of their flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann, the deaprtment store Printemps releases a different scent at each floor. Starting this fall, the olfactory atmosphere for the Luxury floor will be signed Diptyque...
One thing we know for sure is that aromachology and the new interior designers still have a lot to say.