Calvin Klein's Male Scent Draws Cats

Felines love Obsession fragrance, but females?

June 2010

When Calvin Klein invented Obsession fragrance for men, the company's aim was to attract women to guys who wear both the scent and the company's jeans. But instead of luring human females, the perfume entices cats, especially big wild ones.

"We created a lickable vanilla nose with wildly fresh top notes and an afterscent that lingers," says Ann Gottlieb, the CK olfactory specialist who developed the cologne. "We collected musk pheromones secreted by feral cats from Manhattan near our headquarters. That's the secret sexy ingredient that no one knows about."

Zookeepers keep flasks of Obsession on hand to pique the curiosity of their big cats. "It works wonders," says Cheri Pawley, a Ph.D. felinologist at San Diego zoo. "I just spray a little on my khaki shorts and tigers come closer. They like to be scratched in certain places."

Wildlife biologists apply Obsession to trees then set up hidden infrared cameras to record the night life of cheetahs and other wild cats. "Cats much prefer Obsession to Madonna's perfumes, including Pleasure and Mystique," says Ronny McNab of the Wildlife Conservation Council in Africa. "Madonna has lost her appeal, at least for pussycats."

Calvin Klein sells about $85 million worth of Obsession a year, most of it to cat fanciers. Men shun the stuff because they don't want felines hanging off the pockets of their jeans or licking their cheeks.

The cologne, first marketed in 1986, has other commercial applications though it failed to attract romance. Andrew Lloyd Webber required dancers in his Cats musical to splash Obsession on their costumes before the curtain rose. Soon the marketing strategy had fans eating out of Lloyd Webber's paws; ticket sales hit nearly $2 billion over 30 years of performances.

But after Nicole Scherziner, lead singer in the Pussycat Dolls pop group, spritzed herself with Obsession for a concert, her young female fans snarled: all their boyfriends walked out and the hall turned into a melee cat fight.

—James Dunn
Click for more humor