How Pictures Trick Our Noses: The Power of Olfactory Imagery in Marketing

Imagine walking down the cleaning aisle and spotting the newest plug-in room freshener with packaging adorned with scrumptious looking cinnamon rolls. You can almost smell it, right? That’s not just your imagination, it’s a powerful psychological phenomenon at play. 

A recent study by Sharma and Estes (2024) reveals that pictures of scented objects can actually make us "smell" them in our minds, influencing how we evaluate and choose products. Olfactory imagery can play a vital role in consumer decision making.

The Nose Knows... Even When It Doesn’t

Marketers have long known that scent can boost product appeal. We’ve all entered a store or two and have been met with the brand’s signature scent. But with much of sales shifting to digital, it can be quite difficult to deliver the same sensory experience to consumers at home. Delivering actual scents through ads or packaging is expensive, impractical (especially online), and often ignored. So, what if we could evoke the power of scent without the scent itself?

That’s exactly what this research explores. Across seven main studies and four supplemental ones, Sharma and Estes show that simply including a picture of a scented object,like a rose, can trigger olfactory imagery: the mental experience of smell. This imagined scent, in turn, enhances product evaluations and even changes consumer choices.

Seeing Is Smelling: The Visual-Olfactory Effect

The researchers coined this phenomenon the “visual-olfactory effect.” In one study, participants were more likely to choose a hand soap when its ad included a picture of the corresponding fruit (e.g., clementine or pear). In another, a dish soap with a picture of cut lemons (which evoke stronger scent imagery) was preferred over one with whole lemons, even though both were equally attractive.

But here’s the kicker: this effect isn’t just about making products look pretty. It’s about how our brains process multisensory information. Seeing a rose doesn’t just activate visual memory. It can also light up the brain’s olfactory regions, making us "smell" the rose in our minds.

When the Nose Leads the Mind

The study also uncovered three key conditions that shape this effect:

1. Need for Smell: People who naturally rely more on scent in their decision-making (measured by the ENFAS scale) were more influenced by scent-evoking pictures.
2. Scent Centrality: The effect only works when scent is a relevant attribute. A lemon-scented cleaning spray? Yes. A lemon-scented lint roller? Not so much.
3. Pleasantness of the Imagined Scent: Pictures of unpleasant-smelling objects (like fish) actually harmed product evaluations, even when the product was designed to neutralize that odor!

Not Just a Pretty Picture

To ensure the effect wasn’t due to other factors like visual appeal or scent awareness, the researchers ran rigorous controls. They matched images for attractiveness, manipulated scent salience, and even tested whether people noticed the scent label. 

The results held strong.

It was the olfactory imagery, not just the visuals, that drove the effect.

In fact, mediation analyses confirmed that olfactory imagery was the psychological engine behind improved product attitudes. The more vividly people imagined the scent, the more they liked the product.

Study Limitations

While the findings are compelling, the study isn’t without its limitations:

1. Artificial Settings: Most experiments were conducted online or in controlled environments. Real-world shopping contexts where distractions, time pressure, and competing stimuli abound might dampen the effect.
2. Product Scope: The research focused primarily on non-food, scented household products. It’s unclear whether the same effects would hold for more complex or ambiguous scent categories, like luxury goods or tech products.
3. Cultural Variability: Scent preferences and associations vary widely across cultures. What smells pleasant in one region might not be in another, potentially limiting the generalizability of the findings.
4. Short-Term Evaluation: The studies measured immediate reactions and choices. Whether olfactory imagery has lasting effects on brand loyalty or long-term satisfaction remains an open question.

These caveats don’t undermine the core insight, but they do suggest that marketers should test and tailor olfactory imagery strategies to their specific audiences and contexts.

What This Means for Marketers

This research offers a low-cost, high-impact strategy for sensory marketing, especially in digital environments where actual scent delivery isn’t possible. 

Marketers should consider adding a picture of a fragrant object to boost product appeal, but be strategic:

1. Use scent-evoking images only when scent is central to the product.
2. Choose images that are likely to trigger pleasant olfactory memories.
3. Avoid malodorous imagery, even if it’s meant to highlight the product’s effectiveness.

The Final Sniff

Sharma and Estes have opened a new sensory frontier in marketing. Their work shows that our brains don’t just see pictures. They smell them. And those imagined scents can shape our preferences, choices, and brand perceptions in powerful ways.

So next time you’re designing packaging or an ad, ask yourself: what does your product look like… and what does it smell like in the consumer’s mind?