英國男人鍾情名人香水

British and Italian men will be hoping to catch a whiff of celebrity this Christmas, according to a survey released on Friday.

Interest in celebrity fragrances has tripled among British men in the last three years and is second only to Italian men across Europe, the survey of 1,000 people in Europe released by consumer research consultants Mintel said.

Six percent of British men own a fragrance backed by a celebrity such as soccer player David Beckham compared to two percent in 2007 and 16 percent of British women.

Three quarters of British men receive fragrance at Christmas and it is British fathers, in particular those with children under five, who are the most likely to own a celebrity scent.

"Men are aware of the ability of scent to boost self-image and enhance confidence -- an important factor when job security and rising unemployment are issues -- and the increase of interest in male celebrity fragrances is reflective of this and the current marketplace," Mintel Senior European Beauty Analyst Vivienne Rudd said in a statement.

The men's fragrance market has continued to grow despite the global financial crisis, albeit at a slower pace.

Last year British men sprayed on 388 million pounds ($605 million) worth of the stuff and by the end of this year, sales of men's fragrances are set to reach almost 400 million pounds, Mintel said.

British men are only beaten by their Italian counterparts in their desire to buy celebrity fragrances. Across the big five European countries, eight percent of Italian men own celebrity fragrance compared with six percent in Spain and just four percent in France and Germany.

Italian men are also the most eager to please their partners, with over 22 percent of them saying they wear a fragrance they know their partner likes, closely followed by Spanish men (21 percent), German men (20) and French men (19), leaving British men trailing behind at 18 percent.

However, British men lead the way in the amount of fragrances they own, with six percent of men in Britain owning between six and 10 bottles compared with four percent in Germany and Italy and three percent in France and Spain.

週五發佈的一項調查顯示，英國男人和意大利男人希望今年聖誕節能沾點名人氣息。

英敏特公司一項涵蓋了1000名歐洲人的調查發現，在過去三年中，對名人香水感興趣的英國男人增加了兩倍，位列歐洲第二，僅次於意大利男人。英敏特是英國一家消費者研究諮詢公司。

6%的英國男人擁有一款以名人（比如球星大衛•貝克漢姆）命名的香水，2007年這一數據爲2%。與此同時，16%的英國女人擁有名人香水。

四分之三的英國男人在聖誕節收到香水，其中已爲人父的英國男人最有可能擁有一款名人香水，特別是那些孩子不到5歲的年輕爸爸們。

英敏特公司歐洲部高級美容分析師薇薇安•路德在一份報告中說：“男人們意識到香水可以提升自我形象和增加自信。在目前失業率高攀、工作沒有保障的情況下，男人對名人香水的青睞反映了他們對自我形象和自信的重視以及目前市場的潮流。”

即使在全球金融危機下，男人香水市場還是在不斷擴大，只不過是擴大速度減慢了。

英敏特公司說，去年，英國男人用掉了價值3.88億英鎊（合6.05億美元）的香水。到今年年底，男士香水的銷售額有望達到4億英鎊。

英國男人買名人香水的興趣僅次於意大利男人。對歐洲五個大國的調查顯示，8%的意大利男人和6%的西班牙男人擁有名人香水，而在法國和德國，這個數字僅爲4%。

意大利男人也是最渴望取悅自己女伴的，22%的意大利男人稱他們會使用女伴喜歡的香水。西班牙男人、德國男人和法國男人緊隨其後，分別爲21%、20%和19%。英國男人以18%排在最後。

但是，在擁有香水的數量方面，英國男人處於領先位置。6%的英國男人擁有6到10瓶香水，而在德國和意大利，這個比例是4%，在法國和西班牙這個比例僅爲3%。

Vocabulary:

albeit: although（儘管；雖然）