Sex and scent, from phallic bottles to Lolita-esque ads

By Alexandra Donaldson

Sex sells. It comes as no surprise that fragrance employs the same subliminal (and sometimes not so subliminal) tactics that we’ve come to expect from marketing other commodities, from cars to cocktails. Perfume ads are renowned for their barely clad models and sexually suggestive innuendos: Marilyn Monroe’s famous quip, “What do I wear to bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course,” is now legendary as modern-day marketing runs with the idea that fragrance and sex are natural bedfellows.

From Chanel to Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs to Tom Ford, fragrance ads can run to the near-pornographic. (For more on the most provocative fragrance ads in recent memory, click here.) With so much sexual advertising noise, it’s no wonder we see sex everywhere—phallic flasks to bottles blossoming to suggest, well, the big V.

With that in mind, we took a peek through the most sexually suggestive fragrance bottles and ads of recent memory. Feel free to share the love.

PHALLIC FANTASY
It doesn’t take much to make the mental link sex and scent, between a long cylindrical fragrance bottle and a phallus. And it’s pretty easy to spot a penis shape in the world of perfume flasks if you’re intent on finding them.

Halston’s organically sculptural and asymmetrical flacon with beige topper is one of the most obvious members of the boy’s club, but it does not stand alone. Donna Karan’s Cashmere Mist initially is an elegant bottle—crafted as it was by her late husband and sculptor Stephan Weiss—but its long, curvilinear shape and almost sinewy detailing paint a much more carnal picture if one lets the mind wander.

Of course advertising helps ensure you don’t miss the message—both Pierre Cardin and Fabergé reminded you (or rather knock you over the head) that one’s manhood is linked intimately with one’s cologne with their obviously phallic packaging. More quietly, Guerlain’s iconic Jicky bottle may not register as phallic at first glance, but take a closer look and tell us that quadrilobed glass-stoppered bottle doesn’t look like the head of a penis.

LOLITA AND LUST
Love’s Baby Soft ads of the 1970s were notoriously sexualized: Grown women dressing or posing like sexy babies (yes, dressed like babies!) with the tagline, “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” The cult-favourite bottle itself resembles a vibrator—albeit a non-aggressive, pastel version of one.

More recently, Dakota Fanning’s star appearance in Marc Jacobs Lola advertising campaign takes a distinct Lolita-esque turn (even the name brings to mind Nabokov’s novel). Fanning was 17 when this ad was released in 2011 and her posture, dress length, and the positioning of her hand all led to the ad being banned. As for the bottle itself, the link between florals—especially roses—and female genitalia is well documented; just consider the verb “to de-flower.”

Thierry Mugler’s Alien flask is not so obviously sexual, though we can’t help but think of images both clitoral and scrotal (yes, that is the adjective) when we look at it. Although maybe, at this point, we’re looking a little too closely. Makes Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique bust (itself a nod to Schiaparelli) seem tame by comparison.

For more sex and fragrance make sure to read our Sexiest Scents for Men.

Middle image (L-R): Pierre Cardin Man’s Cologne, $25 (240 ml), www.target.com; Halston by Halston for Women, $17 (100 ml), www.amazon.com; Guerlain Paris Jicky Extract, $429 (30 ml), www.amazon.ca; Donna Karan Cashmere Mist, $125 (100 ml), www.donnakaran.com; Faberge’s Macho, discontinued

Bottom image (L-R): Marc Jacobs Lola, $105 (100 ml), www.sephora.com; Jean Paul Gaultier Classique, $90 (50 ml), www.sephora.com; Pasha de Cartier, $121 (100 ml), www.cartier.com; Thierry Mugler Alien EDP, $76 (30 ml), www.thebay.com; Love’s Baby Soft, $6 (20 ml), www.walmart.com