One mighty spray from his aerosol and Mr Normal becomes irresistible. But the ads deliver the same inflated feelgood message - albeit with a knowing wink. Titman thinks Lynx "brings things down to earth". He's an ordinary bloke, and sometimes a bit of a dork. But the difference between the Lynx protagonist and the over-chiselled Adonis is simply that he is not chiselled. The Lynx advertisements became famous for spoofing the kind of ad featuring, as brand manager David Titman puts it, "over-chiselled Adonises". Though even before you get to that, there's a problem in using fragrance at all to say you are masculine in a culture where it is not fully accepted as a masculine product. While to be accepted, you have to play it a lot safer." It's the difference between being "accepted" and being "chosen" that explains the conservative nature of men's fragrance. To be 'chosen' you have to be actively attractive, sensual and maybe a little bit clean. "Women have to be chosen by a man, while men have to be accepted by a woman. He has further guidance from the IFF files, none of it very PC. Montet's advice is to let your fragrance do the talking. This answers a woman's basic needs."Īs a chat-up line, "I am masculine, powerful and clean" may work for E coli, but it's probably not going to do the trick if you are a man. "He has to say - I am masculine, powerful and clean. And in order to do that a man "just like a bacteria" has to impart a core message. The bottom line with fragrance is that it is designed to attract a mate. "We've done deep research into this subject and, well, it can be disturbing to compare us to bacteria, but that's how it is." Montet is global director of consumer science at International Flavors & Fragrances, where they probably have the largest database of consumer scent preferences in the world. But Arnaud Montet is quick to clip my wings.
But just what mysterious alchemy makes the ultimate male scent? Susan Irvine follows the trail in the November 2013 issue of Vogue…ĪSKED how women want men to smell I could wax lyrical for hours: engine oil and cumin sun-browned salty skin vetiver and cashmeran soap, cigars and sex.