Olfactory Communication on Visual Platforms: The Bidirectional Reconstruction of TikTok and the Perfume Industry

Abstract

As a typical olfaction-dependent luxury product, perfume has long been constrained by the core communication pain point that scents cannot be transmitted online. With its decentralized algorithm and visual narration, TikTok has broken the online communication barriers for olfactory products, sparking a communication boom with the hashtag perfumetok accumulating over 5.5 billion views. Taking TikTok as the research field, this paper focuses on the core question of how visual media achieve effective olfactory communication. Drawing on media theory, symbolic consumption theory and industrial economics theory, it systematically analyzes the reshaping effect of TikTok on the perfume industry and the reverse empowerment of the perfume industry on TikTok’s content ecology and commercial value, revealing the internal mechanism of their bidirectional reconstruction. The study finds that TikTok reconstructs the perfume industry’s communication logic, marketing model, brand discourse power and consumer culture through algorithmic equality, contextual narration and user co-creation, driving the popularization of the olfactory economy. The perfume industry, in turn, enriches the platform’s vertical content, activates commercial monetization, upgrades platform positioning and improves governance rules with its high topicality, high commercial potential and cultural attributes. Their interaction has not only led to dilemmas such as content homogenization, the proliferation of replica perfumes and the dilution of brand luxury image, but also promoted the revival of olfactory culture, the optimization of industrial structure and the innovation of communication paradigms. This paper argues that the in-depth integration of visual platforms and the olfactory industry is essentially the co-evolution of digital media and the traditional luxury industry. Only by balancing traffic logic and professional value, commercial interests and cultural attributes can sustainable development be achieved for both platforms and industries.