BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Some deodorant commercials make men appear to be irresistible to women if they put on a certain product.
A new study shows there may be scientific truth to these cheesy advertisements.
Researchers in the United Kingdom say wearing deodorant could make women perceive men as more masculine.
Scientists have known for a long time that natural human body odor can influence how attracted we are to someone, but this research looks at how we conceal our natural body odor and the impact it can have.
The scientists asked the participants to look at photos of 20 men and 20 women and rate how masculine or feminine they appear. They then added odor samples, with and without deodorant.
The women who rated men as having low masculinity when looking only at the picture also rated their masculinity as low as if they weren’t wearing deodorant.
When the scientists added the deodorant sample, these same women ranked the same men as being significantly more masculine.
The deodorant did not have any significant effect on how the men rated a woman’s femininity. Study authors think women are more sensitive to odor cues than men are.
The study from the journal Evolution and Human Behavior can be found here.