Say goodbye to the scented candle. Scent branding has moved into the living room.
While decorators, fashion designers and celebrities have been using candles to brand themselves at least since the late 1990s — Sir Elton John once lent his name to scented rocks — it was less than a decade ago that hotels began using cold-air technologies to scent their public spaces. [...] Before long, the most unlikely places were being scented.
— From What Good Taste Smells Like, about scent diffusion systems for home use, at the New York Times.
I doubt it. There’s something intimate and soothing about lighting scented candles. Ive not yet been in a place scented with this kind of technology that didn’t come across as antiseptic, somehow.
Oh, totally agree. For one thing, most of those systems cost a fortune. A more accurate title would be “Rich people say goodbye to scented candles”
People with money spend it on all sorts of stuff that one doesn’t really need… To me it is so interesting that scent machines have entered the ranks of conspicuous consumption… Like the cathedrals of yesteryear that had the resources to heavily scent their naves and alters with precious incense… What is so striking about these scent enterprises is that they are designed to scent such huge spaces–from high-ceiling lofts to entire hotels…secular holy spaces to lift your mood, lull you into happy submission, or even make you think faster. In a world where we are increasingly feeling encroached by forces we cannot see, whether it be data collection of our every cyber move, or toxins in our air or water, it seems only a matter of time before scent-free zones get a marketing makeover.
I found it interesting too…trying to make your home smell like a hotel lobby doesn’t seem that appealing to me.