Becoming a measuring instrument: an ethnography of perfume consumer testing

Fabian Muniesa and Anne-Sophie Trébuchet-Breitwiller ()
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Anne-Sophie Trébuchet-Breitwiller: CSI i3 - Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IFM - Institut français de la mode - HESAM - HESAM Université - Communauté d'universités et d'établissements Hautes écoles Sorbonne Arts et métiers université

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Abstract: We provide an ethnographic examination of olfactory consumer testing in the perfume industry. What kind of reality is generated within such practices? Our analysis is focused on one particular testing method used in order to assess the hedonic performance of fine fragrances. We observe what happens inside the testing venue. We concentrate 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 we analyse how participants actively engage into the task of becoming measuring instruments (of fragrances and of themselves).

Keywords: testing; perfume; marketing; ethnography; measure; simulacrum; tests; parfum; ethnographie; mesure; simulacre (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Published in Journal of Cultural Economy, 2010, 3 (3), pp.321-337. ⟨10.1080/17530350.2010.506318⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00517714

DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2010.506318

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