The Evolution of Deodorant

We've all been there, folks – the classic alarm snooze that turns into a marathon and suddenly you're sprinting out the door, realizing you forgot to give your armpits their morning pep talk. But rewind back a couple of centuries, and taking a bath was like securing a golden ticket, let alone swiping on deodorant. King Louis XIV, bless his perfumed heart, claimed he only hit the waterworks twice – once on his grand debut and the second time on his "I do" day. Fast forward to around 134 years ago, when deodorant made its rookie appearance. Getting folks to buy the stuff was like teaching a cat to fetch – not easy.

Cut to today, and the deodorant industry is worth a jaw-dropping $22 billion. So, how did we go from sniffing pits to a multi-billion-dollar empire? It's all in the art of making us humans squirm through nifty marketing.

Picture it: the Victorian era, a time of fancy words and even fancier hats. Bathrooms started getting their act together, and people started looking at the whole "smell like roses" situation. The posh lot slathered on fragrances and used fabric shields (yes, shields) to fight the funk. The not-so-posh had to befriend the stink. But hold up – cholera came to town, and suddenly everyone was like, "Hey, maybe smelling good is a thing."

The first-ever deodorant, Mum (yeah, like your Mum, but with less nagging), hit the shelves in 1888, and guess what? It didn't exactly set the world on fire. Turns out, people weren't jazzed about putting cream on their bodies. Rachel Weingarten, who knows a thing or two about beauty history, spills the tea – using Mum back then meant you were practically giving yourself a personal massage. Let's just say, the "intimacy" was cringe-worthy.

Now, zoom to 1912 in Atlantic City, where summer heat turns people into melting popsicles. Edna Murphy and her surgeon dad rocked up with their antiperspirant, "Odorono." They cleaned up – 30,000 big ones in profits, to be exact. It was like hitting the marketing jackpot.

Edna teamed up with James Webb Young, a former Bible-salesman-turned-wordsmith-extraordinaire. He kicked things off with a good ol' shame campaign, whispering in women's ears that their odor was the town gossip. And wouldn't you know it, sales soared. The stage was set for marketing magic.

The tactics of social embarrassment for women and masculinity for men persisted for decades, with deodorant advertising evolving over time. Brands like "Tickle" introduced a playful approach, while others continued to emphasize shame and social consequences. In the 80s, as women entered the workforce, deodorant ads portrayed them as empowered professionals who needed to eliminate any odor before heading to the office.

Through the years, we've had a rollercoaster of ads – from playful to "you've got a problem, lady!" The 80s brought us power suits and deodorant that meant business, while the new millennium showered us with Axe body spray ads that had us questioning our own existence.

Oh, and let's not forget the aluminum scare! People got all worked up that deodorants were secretly plotting with breast cancer. No evidence, but hey, who needs facts when you've got rumors, right? And just like that, we swung from "don't sweat, just spray" to "are you sure this stuff won't kill me?"

Today, it's all about keeping it natural. Ads for products like "Lumi" tickle our funny bones while addressing our odor woes. But let's be real – no matter how discreet the ads get, the fear of emitting an "Eau de Embarrassment" still drives us to swipe and spray.

So, what's the future smell like? Probably a combo of clever marketing and products that are more low-key than a ninja on tiptoes. Dove, for example, made deodorant your low-key BFF – it's there when you need it, no questions asked.

In a nutshell, the journey from ripe to refined is a testament to the wild ride of marketing that exploits our quirks and fears. From Victorian times to today, deodorant went from a luxury to a must-have. Whether we actually need it? Well, that's a matter of opinion. But as long as marketing keeps tickling our insecurities, you can bet your last sniff we'll keep swiping away.