At the onset of this study, I decided to use a compilation of methodologies based upon those proposed by E.McClung Fleming in his work titled "Artifact Study: A proposed model" (Flemming, 1974), Craig Gilborn in Pop Pedagogy: Looking at the Coke bottle (Gilborn, 1982), Jules Prown's " Mind in Matter: An introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method" (Prown, 1982) and Phillip Zimmerman's " Workmanship as evidence: A model for object study" (Zimmerman, 1981). When compiled together, these methodologies married into a single entity with which to study perfume bottles.

The methodologies indicated above are all object based and require that an object to be physically present in order to complete the study. Through the course of my research I discovered that the objects were difficult to access. In fact, with the exception of commercial perfumes made within the last few years (from 1996-1998), I could not obtain bottles for first hand inspection because they are not keepsake items. The commercial nature of perfume production, as an object of mass production and mass consumption precludes a disposable product. Women do not keep empty perfume bottles, because they cannot be refilled, hence short of rummaging through landfill sites, I was limited to alternative sources of bottle design information.

The methodologies of Prown, Zimmerman, Gilborn and Flemming were not useful without tangible objects and the amalgamated methodology first considered was subsequently discarded in favor of one proposed by Gregg Finley in "The Gothic Revival and the Victorian Church in New Brunswick" (Finley, 1990).

1. Research the object identified 2. General background reading 3. Design research strategy 4. Determine non verbal sources for study 5. Level One Inquiry 6. Revise and refine research strategy based on preliminary Findings 7. Select verbal and non-verbal data that is directly relevant to the research objective 8. Level Two Inquiry 9. Research of the objective is achieved 10. Conclusions (Finley, 1990).

Being physically limited by a lack of tangible, accessible perfume bottles, I changed tactics and began to look for perfume advertisements. I chose to limit my search in time from the 1960's to the present (1998). I chose these dates because they corresponded with and overlap the time (1974) when more popular priced, inexpensive perfumes entered the market and advertising efforts changed from selling a product to selling an image (iconic with the perfume). This time period covering four decades, should reveal the trends of the time. The 1960's has been commonly termed the 'flower power decade'; the 1970's are associated with "disco"; the 1980's with "extravagance" and the 1990's with "healthiness and less extravagance". I chose to view ads only from Cosmopolitan Magazine because this magazine has a wide and loyal readership and has maintained the same market throughout the time of my study. Due to the demographics of readership for Cosmopolitan, perfume manufacturers are more likely to advertise in this publication because of the specificity of the market and their product. The very form of magazines follow the cardinal rule of consumer culture-they are disposable (Scanlon, 1995: 8).

After selecting the time span and magazine, I decided to select one random year per decade and collect all of the perfume advertisements depicting the bottle. The advertisements were photocopied in black and white. It should be noted that the advertisements were photocopied from poor quality microfilm. Because the photocopies are black and white, they lack depth and color and hence remove a possible layer of interpretation (based upon color). I only collected one perfume ad, per perfume brand (meaning I did not collect multiple versions of the same perfume advertisement) so the data collected does not reflect the frequency of advertisement placement by the perfumery.

I studied at each ad (that photocopied clearly). Advertisements present many complicated messages. I had to distill these messages into a useable format. I chose to look at the perfume name, bottle material, bottle shape, top shape, bottle iconography, ad image, and recorded the text material. In this way, the data collected was more uniform and easily accessible to determine trends. The chart in no way replaces the value of the actual advertisements, but provides a manageable way to record information. Photocopies of a few advertisements are place in Appendix 2.

Societal dogmas are manifest in a woman's appearance and actions (Simmone, 1990:122). After the first world war, the perfume industry began to flourish due to advertising and the increasing acceptance of women in the workforce (North, 1986: 123). Advertising at this time had begun to debunk the negative myth of cosmetics and the view "nice girls don't wear cosmetics". Change in public thinking coincided, not accidentally with the rise and expansion of the cosmetic industry. The traditional stereotype of the passive female was replace with the "sophisticated female" via aggressive advertising campaigns by cosmetic companies (North, 1986: 123).

Advertisements are not visible conveyors of messages or transparent reflections of reality, they are a specific discourse of signs (Dyer, 1982:115). Through the past decades it has become increasingly common for an advertisement to exhibit a scenario or group of people without presenting any information about the product. Perfumes in particular are difficult to advertise because the product is not verbally tangible and scent varies depending on skin chemistry. When a product is unfamiliar, advertising plays the role of instructing potential consumers about how the advertised item fits into their lives through iconography and image association (O'Barr, 1994:17). Once usage is understood, the ads serve more to remind consumers about availability and to reinforce brand identity (O'Barr, 1994:18). Perfume ads in particular sell images and the iconography is reiterated to reinforce product identity.

Simple advertisements provide the consumer with specific functional information like price, ingredients (in the product) and where it can be bought while complex advertisements concentrate on the presentation of luxury status where in the background images is predominant and the product blends into the image(Dyer, 1982:8-9). Perfume ads are seldom of the simple variety because the product is difficult to describe and scent ingredients are primarily chemical. It is not functional nor a necessity, but a luxury item in the sense that perfumes are not necessary for daily survival or transportation. To create demand, perfumes have been marketed as emotional or evocative items, items more likely to be given as gifts. The manufacturers in the past four decades successfully moved perfumes from luxury item status to almost toiletry items , but advertisements continue to be complex and sophisticated.

Perfumes are frequently given as gifts on special occasions. Merchandisers reveal that package design is particularly important in the case of gift giving. (Selame et al., 1982:19), unless the giftgiver is well acquainted with the receiver (with prior knowledge of perfume preference), a scent may be purchase based on package design and price alone. The bottle is the ultimate gift wrap (Sutnar, 1953:29). Packaging is of particular importance with the rise of the self serve industry (Cheskin, 1957:29). The individualized sales service previously given to customers has been eliminated due to both economic viability and an increase in product volume. Product marketing, packaging, promotion, distribution, display and advertising are all integrally related (Selame et al., 1982:10).
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