This month’s Smellizing Study of the Month is:
“Smellizing Cookies and Salivating: A Focus on Olfactory Imagery,” Aradhna Krishna [pictured here], Maureen Morrin, and Eda Sayin, Journal of Consumer Research, epub 2014.
The prolific Mary Ann Twist issued a press release about it:
Fashion magazines come pre-loaded with scratch-and-sniff panels for perfume and aftershave, but what about advertisements for foods like chocolate chip cookies and fresh-baked bread? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when food advertisements combine a photo of food with an “imagined odor,” consumers both salivate more for the item and then consume it in larger quantities.
“We wondered whether both real and imagined food smells would enhance consumer desire for that product. Does the concept of smelling food make people salivate more and increase their desire to eat more than they normally would?” write authors Aradhna Krishna (University of Michigan), Maureen Morrin (Temple University), and Eda Sayin (Koç University)…