The Smell of Clean Comes from What? What your Floor Cleaner isn't Telling

"Estée Lauder Cos.' fragrance Calyx has influenced many complex cleaning scents, as has Dior's J'adore, she says. Ralph Lauren's Polo Blue is another big force. "You get this marine smell of fresh air, with a touch of lavender and woodiness," Ms. Betz says. "Those notes are very desirable in cleaners."[...] "Naming cleaning-product fragrances can be as nuanced as concocting them. Consumers tend to love hints of banana in their cleaning products. "But if you put it on the label, it doesn't work," says Steve Nicoll, an IFF senior perfumer. "Papaya is the same way. It's so unexpected that they can't accept it, yet the smell they like." Lavender works in reverse: "People like the idea of lavender but don't tend to like the real thing," says Ms. Betz. Most of the lavender-scented products are actually lavender "fantasies," an industry term for a hint of a scent that is combined with others. Lavender is usually combined with fruit, floral, woody or vanilla notes, she says."

Just two of the most interesting (amidst an article with lots of interesting info appearing in the Wall Street Journal by Ellen Byron) on how functional perfumery -i.e. fragrance created to aromatize functional products, such as laundry detergent, cleaning fluid, window pane sprays etc.- really works.
The preponderance for "fresh" and "clean" takes on many guises apparently, with not only labels just hinting of the truth inside, but also the sector being inspired by such -unlikely at first glance- things such as fashion trends, colors du jour, even food! (Behold the evidence of cookie-scented detergent on the left!)

A serious point is made on how the "trickling down effect", that is to say the trajectory effect from fine fragrance (i.e.perfumes) into functional perfumery is increasingly shortening, making the transition quicker and quicker all the while. So when your favorite fragrance starts smelling pedestrian, or you find yourself pining after a specific cleaning product like a homing pigeon, you know why. After all, niche perfume brand Tocca was there before!

There's also ample proof in the info by the industry professionals cited in the WSJ article that it all relies, much like with fine fragrance, on fantasy...As if we ever doubted it.

BTW: Another interesting article by the same author tackles the issue of overuse of detergent by American housewives. 

 pics via purex.com and globalgiants.com