Do “For Men” and “For Women” Labels Change a Perfume’s Color Associations?

What guides us when we compare a scent to a color? Merely hearing that a perfume is for men or for women might change the colors it brings to mind.

A study by Zellner and colleagues published in Chemical Senses in 2008 explored this question in four experiments using commercial perfumes. It examined whether scent–color correspondences depend only on the substances reaching the nose, or also on cognition: how people think about a fragrance.

Distributing points among color names, rather than looking at colors

The participants were US university students, with 63, 52, 60, and 68 participants in the four experiments, respectively. The number included in individual analyses varied by experiment and according to missing responses or ratings.

Each perfume was presented by placing 0.15 milliliters on polyethylene pellets inside an opaque sniff bottle. Participants were not choosing on the basis of the original bottle or the liquid’s color.

Participants considered the colors the scent brought to mind and freely distributed a total of five points among 11 color names, including red, blue, yellow, pink, and white. They could assign all five points to one color or divide them among several. The color percentages here refer to the proportion of points allocated, not the proportion of people.

The task measured associations with colors that seemed to fit a scent. It did not investigate the experience of literally seeing colors when smelling an odor, or the ability to discriminate colors.

First, comparing six perfumes with different commercial categories

The first experiment used three perfumes marketed for women, Beautiful, Calyx, and Trésor, and three marketed for men, Polo, Hugo Boss, and Drakkar Noir. Participants rated intensity, pleasantness, masculinity, and femininity before choosing colors.

For these six fragrances, perceived gender corresponded with the commercial categories. Pink, white, and yellow received many points for the three fragrances marketed for women, while green, blue, and brown received many for the three marketed for men. However, there were differences among individual perfumes, and participants did not all choose the same single color.

At this stage, it was impossible to separate the effect of gender associations on color choices from associations arising from differences in ingredients or fragrance character. The next experiment therefore compared different perceptions of the same perfumes.

Different perceptions of the same unisex perfume were associated with different colors

From the second experiment onward, the researchers used Calvin Klein’s CK One and CK Be. Both were marketed as unisex, but people did not perceive them uniformly.

For each perfume, the team divided participants into those who found it feminine and those who found it masculine, then compared their point allocations. For CK One, those perceiving it as feminine allocated more to white, pink, orange, and yellow; those perceiving it as masculine allocated more to blue and green. For CK Be, pink and white predominated among those perceiving it as feminine, and blue and white among those perceiving it as masculine.

However, these were not groups created by random assignment. They were formed afterward from participants’ own ratings. Other differences between the groups, including how they initially perceived the odors, could still have contributed.

Was asking about gender first responsible?

In the first two experiments, participants rated masculinity and femininity before choosing colors. The question itself might have drawn their attention to gender.

The third experiment therefore reversed the order, asking participants to choose colors first. When they subsequently rated gender associations, color allocations still differed between those who perceived a fragrance as feminine and those who perceived it as masculine.

Some differences were less clear than in the preceding experiment. Among those who perceived CK One as masculine, the tendency to allocate points unevenly across colors did not itself reach statistical significance. Nevertheless, asking about gender first could not by itself explain the overall pattern of findings.

Changing only the description also changed color choices

In the final experiment, the same CK One and CK Be fragrances were described as perfumes for men or perfumes for women. Participants were randomly assigned to a description, chose colors, and then rated other impressions.

The same perfume received higher femininity ratings when described as being for women, and higher masculinity ratings when described as being for men. The distribution of points among colors also differed.

For CK One, pink received the largest allocation in the group told it was for women, and blue in the group told it was for men. For CK Be, yellow predominated with the description for women and blue with the description for men. It was not a simple rule that a description for women always led to pink.

Because colors changed when descriptions changed without changing the substance, what people think about a perfume appears to influence scent–color correspondences. By contrast, no significant difference in pleasantness ratings was found between descriptions. A changed color association is not the same as liking a perfume more.

Did the words evoke a color, or change how the odor was perceived?

The authors distinguish two possible pathways. One is that associations between the meanings masculine or feminine and particular colors directly influenced choices. The other is that descriptions directed attention toward aspects of the fragrance, changed its perceived odor, and thereby led to a different color choice.

The experiments cannot completely separate these pathways. They show that descriptions of perfumes influenced color associations, but do not establish precisely how the olfactory sensation itself changed.

The authors further suggest that scent–color correspondences involve interacting factors: correspondences between sensory dimensions, emotions such as pleasantness, and meanings evoked by a scent. This study gives a concrete illustration of the role of meaning in particular.

The acknowledgments state that International Flavors and Fragrances supplied some of the perfume samples and information about their classification.

Summary

Descriptions of the same unisex perfumes as being for men or for women changed both their perceived gender and the allocation of points to associated colors. When translating a scent into a color, people seem to draw not only on its constituents, but also on how they understand it.

However, these results concern US university students and a limited set of products available at the time. The research does not show that associations between blue and men, or pink and women, are innate or identical across cultures. In considering combinations of fragrance and color, meaning evoked by words and experience may matter alongside fragrance character. The study illuminates that cognitive dimension.

References

Zellner, D. A., McGarry, A., Mattern-McClory, R., & Abreu, D. (2008). Masculinity/Femininity of Fine Fragrances Affects Color–Odor Correspondences: A Case for Cognitions Influencing Cross-Modal Correspondences. Chemical Senses, 33(2), 211–222. DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjm081 / Full article. Original article: © The Author 2007, Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. (published online in 2007; volume and issue dated 2008)