One of the personal qualities I am most proud of is my willingness to engage in new experiences. Many people I know like to pursue activities they already enjoy and would often decline when invited to some new activity they do not know much about. One of the reasons I am always up for new experiences is that they open up my mind and expand my thinking horizon. But even if I may not learn much for engaging in a new experience, at the minimum they do make my life more exciting. Thus, when my cousin invited me to a perfume party because she didn’t want to go alone, I was immediately up for the challenge even though I had no idea what it would be like. But I did have a feeling it would be unlike any other party I have ever attended and I was not wrong. My experiences at the perfume party taught me we usually give too much weight to the labels and ignore the essence of things.
As we arrived at the party, the host, also a serious perfume aficionado, guided us to the dinner table where there were many small perfume bottles. The labels on the perfume bottles didn’t show the name of the perfume but instead codes that only the host understood. The host’s instructions were very clear; a perfume bottle would be passed around and each one of us would smell the perfume without knowing its name. We would then express our opinions including the gender to which it may have been marketed. The host also comforted us we can express ourselves in any manner we would like and don’t have to worry about some of the technical terms perfume aficionados use.
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After the first bottle was passed and everyone had smelled it, I was surprised by how similar everyone’s opinions and remarks were. Almost everyone felt the perfume reminded them of lipstick and old makeup products. Some even entertained us with their childhood stories involving their moms, aunts, and grandmas. The surprising thing is that even guys recalled such memories and not only the female participants of the party. Even I could not deny the fact that the perfume indeed had vintage makeup aura. When the host asked us whether it is a masculine or feminine perfume, just one out of the entire group thought it is unisex while others labeled it as a feminine perfume.
The host shocked us by revealing the perfume is actually Dior Homme from the design house of Christian Dior and is marketed to men. She also revealed it is quite a huge seller for the Dior brand. At that very moment, I could not help but wonder at the marvels of marketing. I even commented on the fact few men would go near this perfume if one removes the label that presents it as a masculine fragrance and most participants agreed.
In the next round, the host passed two bottles which had perfumes in quite similar colors. Almost everyone thought the host is playing around with us and has passed the same perfume in both bottles. Ttwo people did feel one was relatively stronger while the other a bit lighter so it may be two different concentrations of the same perfume. This time the opinions were mixed in terms of gender. Some thought both bottles are masculine while some thought they are feminine. Rest of them thought they are unisex. The host revealed the two bottles do contain different perfumes though from the same brand. One is Prada Infusion D’Homme which is targeted at men and the other is Prada Infusion D’Iris which is targeted at women. Even the host admitted she had trouble telling which one is which one when she first bought them. It was another reminder how marketing shapes our behavior while few realize it. The host then went on to explain perfumes really have no gender but marketing has convinced us so over time. She gave a great analogy that a rose smells good whether a man smells it or a woman. Smell does not differentiate between gender differences.
I could see everyone had a great time even though none of them shared the passion for perfumes that the host had. But perfumes made them recall their beautiful childhoods and some of them recalled memories they had almost forgotten about. In the meanwhile, everyone also got a little education on marketing. When everyone left, it was with a smile on their faces and I was one of them.
