Is the Smell of Moroccan Bazaar Too Edgy for American Homes?†

New Products Aimed at 'Scent Seekers' Are Fast Changing the Fragrance of Clean

Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2009 — For decades, lingering whiffs of ammonia and bleach in bathrooms and kitchens signaled a freshly scrubbed home. In the 1970s and 1980s, the scent of pine forests and lemon groves gained acceptance.

Now the smell of clean has become a wildly varied bouquet: mandarin-lime detergent, disinfectant evoking "lavender vanilla and comfort," toilet-bowl cleaner in eucalyptus mint. Bleach can smell like a "fresh meadow." A new deodorizer, which hit store shelves last month, promises a "Moroccan bazaar."

The consumer-products industry has built a complex olfactory infrastructure, stretching from the laboratory to the marketer's imagination. These days, companies from Procter & Gamble Co. to Clorox Co. are tickling the human nose as never before. Researchers shepherd consumers through a gantlet of odors to gauge their reaction. Scientists parse fragrance perception. Companies unveil scent after scent that evokes "clean."