Opium (perfume)

Opium caused a stir with its controversial name and brought accusations that the brand designer Yves Saint Laurent was condoning drug use.{{cite news | title = Fashion giant Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71 | url = http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jjUx1JLZLBBYZUttNWlqeAn1jc8Q | author = Agence France-Presse | author-link = Agence France-Presse | date = 2008-06-01 | accessdate = 2008-11-10 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080603162059/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jjUx1JLZLBBYZUttNWlqeAn1jc8Q | archivedate = 2008-06-03 }} In the United States, a group of Chinese Americans demanded a change of the name and a public apology from Saint Laurent for "his insensitivity to Chinese history and Chinese American concerns." They formed a committee called the American Coalition Against Opium and Drug Abuse, which expressed outrage at the choice of a name representing "a menace that destroyed many lives in China."{{cite book | title = Consumer Boycotts: Effecting Change Through the Marketplace and the Media | url = https://archive.org/details/consumerboycotts00frie | url-access = limited | first = Monroe | last = Friedman | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-92457-X | page = [https://archive.org/details/consumerboycotts00frie/page/n165 145] | year = 1999 }} However, the ensuing press coverage helped to increase the sales, with the perfume soon becoming a best-selling product.{{cite book | title = Fabulous Fragrances II : A Guide to Prestige Perfumes for Women and Men | first = Jan | last = Moran | publisher = Crescent House | isbn = 0-9639065-4-2 | year = 2000 | page = 170 }}

For its promotional U.S. launch party in 1978, the German ship Peking—named after the Chinese city of Beijing—was rented from the South Street Seaport Museum and draped with colorful banners, the well-known American novelist Truman Capote sitting at its helm at the event. Peking, along with a {{convert|1000|lbs|adj=on}} bronze statue of the Buddha that was decorated with white cattleya orchids, displayed the supposed Eastern theme of the perfume at the party. The brand conveyed the theme into the red plastic container holding the perfume's glass vial, which Pierre Dinand designed based on inro—the small Japanese lacquered cases that were worn hanging from the {{lang|ja-Latn|obi}} and held perfumes, herbs and medicines.{{cite news|url=http://www.cosmopolitan.fr/,histoire-de-parfum-opium,1899593.asp |title=Histoire de parfum : Opium |date=28 May 2014 |work=Cosmopolitan |publisher=Hearst Corporation |language=French |accessdate=1 June 2014}}{{cite book | title = Fabulous Fragrances II : A Guide to Prestige Perfumes for Women and Men | first = Jan | last = Moran | publisher = Crescent House | isbn = 0-9639065-4-2 | year = 2000 | page = 171 }}

Opium, Lilac Perfume Oil and White Musk from The Body Shop, Juniper Breeze from Bath & Body Works and Royal Secret formerly Germaine Monteil were among the perfumes tested in 2003 in a study of the relationship of scents to memory.{{cite journal|author=Herz, Rachel S.|author2= James Eliassen|author3= Sophia Beland|author4= Timothy Souza|title=Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory|journal=Neuropsychologia|publisher=Elsevier|volume=42|date=2004|pages=371–378|doi=10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.08.009|pmid=14670575|issue=3|s2cid= 3918680}}

A poster advertising campaign for the perfume caused another controversy in October–November 2000. It featured English model Sophie Dahl lying on her back naked except for a necklace, a bracelet and a pair of stiletto heels, with her eyes closed, seemingly in the throes of ecstasy, and her legs spread apart as she covers one of her nipples with her hand, leaving the other exposed.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222135/http://www.sophie-dahl.com/images/full-size/opium.jpg Opium advertisement, Yves Saint Laurent, at The Sophie Dahl Gallery] This advertising campaign, photographed by Steven Meisel, was widely seen in print advertisements and posters in bus shelters across many countries. It won an award in Spain{{cite book | title = The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed | first = Sara G. | last = Forden | publisher = Harper Paperbacks | url = https://archive.org/details/houseofguccise00ford | url-access = registration | isbn = 0-06-093775-0 | year = 2001 | page = 340 }} but was met with negative reactions in some places, particularly in the United Kingdom. The British Advertising Standards Authority received more than 700 complaints from the public, and ordered the posters to be withdrawn on the grounds that they were too sexually suggestive, degrading to women, and likely to cause "serious or widespread offence".{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,413209,00.html |title='Offensive' Opium posters to be removed, The Guardian - December 19, 2000 |website=TheGuardian.com |date=19 December 2000 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=31 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031035814/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2000/dec/19/advertising.uknews |url-status=live }}{{cite book | title = Violence and the Media | first = Cynthia | last = Carter | publisher = Open University Press | isbn = 0-335-20505-4 | year = 2003 | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780335205059/page/126 126]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780335205059| url-access = registration }} American journalist Susan Faludi argued that certain perfume advertising campaigns pushed "idealization of weak yielding women" to the extreme, citing the Opium advertisement as a primary example.{{cite book | title = Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women | first = Susan | last = Faludi | author-link = Susan Faludi | publisher = Anchor | isbn = 0-385-42507-4 | year = 1992 | page = [https://archive.org/details/backlashundeclarfal00falu/page/208 208] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/backlashundeclarfal00falu/page/208 }}

YSL launched the male complement Opium pour Homme in 1995, created by Jacques Cavallier of Firmenich.{{cite book | title = New Perfume Handbook - Second Edition | first = Nigel | last = Groom | isbn = 0-7514-0403-9 | publisher = Springer | year = 1997 | page = 237 }} Its main note is set by vanilla, with black currant, galangal, star anise, ginger and pepper, fusing with base notes of cedar and Tolu balsam. Its flask was designed by Jérôme Failliant-Dumas.

In 1992 and 1999, U.S. film director David Lynch created commercials for Opium.{{cite book | title = Lynch on Lynch | first = Chris | last = Rodley | isbn = 0-571-22018-5 | year = 2005 | publisher = Faber & Faber | page = 309 }}

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• [https://www.yslbeauty.com/int/fragrance/fragrance-for-her/opium/opium-eau-de-toilette/512YSL.html Opium Eau de Toilette] (YSL)

{{Parfums Yves Saint Laurent}}

Category:Perfumes

Category:Products introduced in 1977

Category:Yves Saint Laurent (brand)