Don’t Get Me Started on Farts

Not often do I encounter a study where the researcher intentionally directed toward the participating consumers the smell of, in the phrasing of Prof. Sina Esteky at Miami University, “fart spray and fish oil.” But he did just that. His objective was to test the long-standing assumption that if an item of merchandise is being considered in the presence of an unpleasant odor, people become less likely to buy that item. Prof. Esteky found that in some circumstances, an unpleasant odor can instead enhance sales.
     Each participant in his study selected between organic and non-organic grocery items while exposed to either a pleasant or unpleasant odor, with the odor being one people tend to consider from either a natural or a non-natural source. The pleasant natural fragrance was lemongrass and lavender. The pleasant non-natural was a gender-neutral smell of ambiguous origin. The unpleasant natural was the fart spray and fish oil, and the unpleasant non-natural was burnt engine oil.
     Compared to a control group of consumers who made their choices in an environment with no odor pumped in, the group experiencing the pleasant natural odor were more likely to select organic over non-organic items. That’s what would be predicted by common sense as well as by past research results. But the people exposed to the unpleasant non-natural odor also were more likely than those in the control group to select organic over non-organic. It’s as if the smell of burnt engine oil made the consumers long for products of natural origin as compensation.
     The groups exposed to the fart spray and fish oil or the non-natural pleasant smell were less likely than those in the control group to choose organic over non-organic. This is evidence that it wasn’t just the presence of a fragrance which affected choices.
     Prof. Esteky saw the same pattern of results when assessing the results with sounds instead of odors. The pleasant natural sound was birds chirping, the unpleasant natural sound was dogs barking, the pleasant non-natural sound was electronic music, and the unpleasant non-natural sound was construction noise.
     You probably won’t infuse your store with the aroma of burnt engine oil or prioritize store renovation projects during operating hours. However, shopkeepers in industrial neighborhoods with unpleasant outdoor smells or in areas with building construction might turn this to their advantage by offering shoppers the respite of organic items.
     Keep in mind individual differences in whether a particular smell or sound is considered pleasant or unpleasant. A fisherman might associate the odor of fish oil with a profitable catch. As to that other component in the unpleasant blend, AsapSCIENCE claims scientific evidence shows most people find their own farts pleasant, while the farts of others obnoxious.

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