Spray Some Superficial On Me

For today’s blog entry, I wanted to start thinking more outside the box than conventional pieces of media I have been using. Sitting in my room trying to figure out a great topic for a blog entry, I looked over to my vanity to see my Marc Jacobs Lola Perfume. The bottle is absolutely beautiful and I always receive compliments on it. 

Then I began to think, perfume is an extremely superficial industry. Without even smelling the perfume, people will automatically be drawn to purchase it because of how the bottles looks or how having this perfume will reflect their lifestyle. I am completely guilty of conforming to this trend. I think that 90% of the perfume I have bought (without smelling the scent) is because I like the bottle, I like the celebrity who endorses the product or because of the advertisement that portrays a lifestyle I want to be a part of. The perfume industry is usually advertising through magazines or other paper methods, banking on the fact that the public will like the appearance of the bottle enough to not bother to make the effort to make sure it smells to their liking.

In class we discussed how stereotypes are very prevalent in the media, and are very apparent through television shows. Television has the ability to broadcast to a certain audience and appeal to what viewers want. Very similar is the website we browsed, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, that makes jokes that touch on reality. The reason why people read it and think it is funny is because it is funny only to people who understand. Perfume is alike in the sense that advertisers are blatantly targeting a certain group of people to like their products. Most people aspire to a high end lifestyle, which is why perfume names are picked very carefully, ex. Princess, Hollywood, Oh La La, Lucky You, to create a tacit level of prestige.

In particular, look at the advertisements geared toward men’s perfume. It is clear which perfumes are supposed to be targeting a homosexual vs. a straight man. With male perfume, it is not so much about the bottle anymore, but rather the images surrounding the idea behind the perfume. This industry is stereotypical in this sense because who is to say that a straight man won’t enjoy D&G perfume. This goes both ways; perfume advertisers are assuming all gay men would be attracted to images seen below in March Jacobs & D&G. Many homosexual men still enjoy being portrayed in a more masculine manner whether it be through sports etc.

So much is able to be said without ACTUALLY saying anything. Through the advertisement, style and name of the bottle and the celebrities promoting the product, the public feels buying perfume will produce an elevated lifestyle.