除臭香體露在中國並沒有市場

Unilever brought its Rexona deodorant to China a decade ago, dreaming of a market with 2.6 billion armpits.

聯合利華十年前就把舒耐香體露帶進了中國，夢想佔領這個擁有26億腋窩的市場。

But cultural differences and simple biology - scientists have shown that many East Asian people don't have Westerners' body odor issues - scotched those plans.

但文化差異和簡單的生理問題--科學家已經證明許多東亞人並沒有西方人的體味問題--阻撓了這些計劃。

Today, by some estimates, less than 10% of China's population uses deodorant, and it can be hard to find outside major cities.

據估計，目前中國只有不到10%的人口使用香體露，在大城市之外更加難找。

"The traditional thinking here is that sweating is good because it helps people detox," said Lucia Liu, a skin care assistant manager at Unilever. "There is a marketing barrier that is really hard to overcome."

聯合利華護膚產品助理經理露西亞·劉說：“在中國的傳統觀念裏，出汗是件好事，因爲有助於排毒，這個市場營銷上的障礙很難克服。”

There's another reason few Chinese consumers buy deodorant: basic biology.

少有中國消費者購買香體露的另一個原因是：基本的生理特性。

Scientists in recent years have shown that many Chinese have a gene that lowers the likelihood of a strong "human axillary odor (body stink)" and that lowers the likelihood that they will use deodorant.

科學家近年來已經證明，很多中國人攜帶的一種基因可以降低產生強烈“人體腋窩氣味(體臭)”的可能性，因此這從根本上減少了他們使用香體露的可能性。