BECOMING A MEASURING INSTRUMENT

Fabian Muniesa and Anne-Sophie Trébuchet-Breitwiller

Journal of Cultural Economy, 2010, vol. 3, issue 3, 321-337

Abstract: This article provides an ethnographic examination of olfactory consumer testing in the perfume industry. What kind of reality is generated within such practices? The analysis is focused on one particular testing method used in order to assess the hedonic performance of fine fragrances. The authors observe what happens inside the testing venue. The article concentrates on the problem of the simulacrum (how the reality provoked within the test may serve as a proxy for the reality of ‘consumer behaviour’) and analyses how participants actively engage into the task of becoming measuring instruments (of fragrances and of themselves).

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2010.506318

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