Original Commentary
You'd be surprised how successful the industrial fragrance market is- people just don't like the smell of people very much.

Modern Commentary
Why fragrance compounds?
Firstly, I used to do tech support on behalf of IBM. I'd ask our corporate customers to tell me about what their company did and sometimes it'd be really interesting. Like the company that sold titanium dioxide.
Titanium dioxide is a food-safe white pigment. Among other things, its the "m" on a M&M. And it's in sunscreen and toothpaste. I found that fascinating and loved the idea of the components that existed in the background of society but rarely entered active thought. The kind of products that make up the subconscious of our daily lives.
But also, I was reading something where the main characters jobs were so very famous and important and glamorous. I wanted to do the exact opposite. I can't recall what I was reading; it was more likely to be the cumulative effect of dozens of works that did that than one specific thing. But I wanted to do the opposite of that.
Also, it ties in with the "Lemon" in the company name. - Terrence