There Was A Stink Here

A strange smell enters your nose. At first it seems pleasant, but at some point it hits you that the smell doesn't normally belong there. You then recognize that it's most likely an air freshener, and your brain supplies the needed context; namely, that there was a stink here. This knowledge makes the air freshener somewhat less effective, doesn't it? Moreover, I think that air fresheners are mostly ineffective, and I will gladly explain why.

All air fresheners smell pleasant, and yet most of the time when you smell them, the scent actually comes off as annoying, or at least less-than-pleasant. Why is this the case? Doesn't a pleasant smell always smell pleasant? In fact, no. The connotation that comes with the smell indicates that something else likely happened to make the air freshener necessary.

Moreover, when would you choose an air freshener over fresh air? Only on a summer's day when it's too hot to open the windows, or a winter's day when it's too cold to do the same. Depending on where you live, these may vary in frequency. Either way, there will be some days where the air freshener just smells out of place, even if it wasn't there to cover up a stench.

In many cases the air freshener cannot even completely cover the previous odor. This is arguably worse than not using any air freshener at all. The rank smell mingles with the more pleasant aroma, creating a confusing and irritating environment. So either the air freshener couldn't fully eliminate the other scent (and therefore, pointless), or the other scent was already gone, and the air freshener only serves as an ironic reminder of the incident (again, pointless). It's ironic because the pleasant smell hints at something unpleasant. In either case, we see that the use of the air freshener, at least as a remedy, was completely futile.

Also there is something to be said about the oils. If given a choice, I'd prefer fresh air over freshened-air any time. Most air fresheners use oils which either drift down to the floor, or float around. Either kind introduces particles into the environment (albeit, pleasant-smelling ones) that would not have been there otherwise - at least, certainly not in the quantity dispersed. This may even have some negative health effects, but I've not researched the subject. I simply know that when I inhale directly from a thick fog of such particles, the effect is not exactly stimulating, but rather, cough- and sneeze-inducing.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for the use of air fresheners. However, I don't kid myself into thinking that they are effective. At the very least, all they do is kick your olfactory into gear and remind you that "there was a stink here."