Greenpeace wants us to smell the destruction we create plus...5 more campaigns that use fragrances to make their point.

Argentina loses one hectare of forests every two minutes or around 30 soccer fields per hour. Such rapid deforestation causes species disappearance, climate change, floods, droughts, desertification, diseases, evictions of indigenous people and loss of food and medicines. Yet worst of all, 95% of forest fires are caused by humans and there is virtually no penalty for those responsible.

To create awareness about the urgent need to create a Forest Law that prevents and punishes those who cause forest fires, The Juju agency in partnership with Greenpeace, created a unique product: ‘The scent of consciousness’. It is an air freshener for cars that does not smell like pine, but like the smoke from fires that devastate ecosystems.

Here are five more campaigns that use fragrances to raise awareness and change behaviour.

N23. A Fragance Based On Real Events | Novaya Gazeta | Action Moscow | 2020

Challenge the placement of a perfume house in one of Stalin's deadliest buildings with chilling fragrance. There’s a lot to be said about Russia’s politics but when it was discovered that a luxury perfume house was to open at Nikolskaya, 23, also known as the House of Executions, Novaya Gazeta had to act quickly to ensure this didn’t happen. To encapsulate the horror that happened on the land of the intended perfume house, Novaya Gazeta created their own fragrance by packaging up soil from the execution yard, a vial made from vintage Soviet shell case and the scent of gunpowder. This was then sent to top media on the Day of Remembrance for victims of political repressions for maximum impact. The power of the campaign ensured that the perfume house was scrapped and a memorial museum would be opened at Nikolskaya, 23 instead.

xtacy | Openbaar Ministerie |Roorda Reclamebureau | 2020

Turn a perfume into a way to help people identify ecstasy labs. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service devised a creative way of teaching citizens how to spot a local ecstasy lab. Ecstasy labs are often found in residential areas but most people don’t realise when they’re near one. The Public Prosecution Service wanted to change this by giving people a simple reference point – the distinctive smell of the hazardous drug waste. A new perfume called Xtacy was created with a strong smell of anise. Xtacy was then launched in the drug capital of Europe, Den Bosch, where a street team distributed samples that had an important message on the back of each tester card. The goal was to turn every citizen into a detective – following the campaign there were 32% more police reports about ecstasy labs and drug waste.

L'eau de Bebe | Ecover | Uncommon Creative Studio | 2019

Reveal a fragrance that smells like a newborn baby and nothing else to encourage consumers to be more ecologically aware about using scented, synthetic products.

Forte Femme | Forte Bank | Voskhod | 2019

Challenge people to acknowledge the contribution of women by making money smell feminine.  Kazakhstan is a region where women are traditionally expected to play the archetypal role of stay-at-home mothers.  Yet, women account for 39% of Kazakhstan’s GDP and 50% of the country’s sole proprietors are female. However, most are reluctant to take loans from banks, even though they are the most responsible credit users. The change society’s opinion about female entrepreneurship and to inspire businesswomen to develop their businesses, Forte Bank decided to make the female contribution to the country's development more visible.  A week before International Women’s Day, a huge number of bloggers, journalists and ordinary people noticed that money started to have a nice smell. And then the bank revealed Forte Femme perfume and, together with thousands of businesswomen, daubed all money circulating in their businesses with it. One could even deposit the scented banknotes at a profitable rate. The last 5 bottles of the perfume were sold at the auction with the money being channeled to female entrepreneurship support funds.

I Am Trash |Etat Libre D'orange | Ogilvy | 2019

Reimagine waste from perfume making as a luxury scent to show beauty can come from decay. The perfume industry generates 92 million tons of waste every year. Etat Libre D'Orange and Ogilvy decided to help solve the problem, while also taking aim at those responsible for it. Enter I Am Trash, the first perfume created by using waste. I Am Trash not only serves as an alternative to competitors' perfumes but represents a shift in how the industry as a whole operates.