In 1960, Avon launched a perfume it called “Unforgettable”. By 2011, it had forgotten all about it. “It is a very, very old fragrance,” the polite Indian gentleman with the unlikely name of Fabian told me on via Avon’s customer service phone number. “It has been wiped from the database.”

“Someone must have records on it somewhere,” I told him. “Do you think you could get me the phone or an email for Avon’s PR firm?”

“Just a moment, ma’am,” Fabian said. “I will see what I can do.” While I waited I fed the cat with my free hand and started stripping the bed for the wash. I didn’t have a lot of confidence even if he did come through with a contact number that Avon’s public relations people would be very helpful. In my experience, PR firms for niche fragrances are really responsive, but for the big boys — Estée Lauder and Nina Ricci, for instance — Now Smell This’s million-plus monthly page views don’t seem to mean a lot.

Fabian was back. Skirting my request for a contact in public relations, he said, “Thank you for waiting, ma’am. I tried very, very hard to get information about Unforgettable, but it is very old. It was wiped completely from the database.” Well. Unforgettable indeed…

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