Does Febreze Air Freshener Really Work?

I was shopping at Rite Aid for a product to freshen up a bedroom in my apartment. The room had seen its fair share of renters before I moved in and judging from the floor the carpet had not been replaced in a very long time. Not only was it soiled in many places but I realized after a while that it emitted a smell that seemed impossible to get rid of.

The carpet left a strange stale odor in the room that was faint but noticeable to anyone like me with an overactive sniffer. Scented candles only worked while lit. Aerosol air fresheners were even more temporary.

I needed a product that the carpet would absorb. I wanted something safe to spray directly on it.

Many so-called "odor eliminators" and "air freshener" products were available on the Rite Aid shelf, but ultimately I chose the Febreze Fabric Refresher in the Spring & Renewal scent. The label read "Eliminates odors and freshens fabrics, carpets and air". It also says it's safe to use for sofas, curtains, cars, pet areas, clothing, gym bags, bedding, fabric/canvas shoes and air.

I figured that the Febreze Fabric Refresher and odor eliminator would work well to remove the stale smell from the carpet and leave behind a pleasant and fresh, clean aroma.

It turns out I presumed wrong.

The Febreze Fabric Refresher Spring & Renewal scented odor eliminator does have a familiar pleasant smell that resembles clean laundry only it smells more artificial than the laundering smell I am used to. The smell is also very temporary.

I believed that the air freshener and odor eliminator would be absorbed to leave the carpet freshly scented for a long period of time. Unfortunately the product does not work like that. After spraying the Febreze Fabric Refresher directly onto the carpet per the directions, the new fresh smell disappeared in less than an hour.

While id did work to freshen up a room or fabric for an immediate result, the product only provided short term relief of the original odor. It seemed to me that the Febreze Fabric Freshener was only covering up the unpleasant carpet odor instead of getting rid of it.

After the product proved unsuccessful in solving my problem several times I decided to inspect the package more closely. What did I really buy? How misleading is Febreze's advertising?

Interestingly, the description on the product label remains vague. While it does not claim the product will clean or remove odors from fabrics, air and carpet permanently, the term "odor eliminating" can be confusing to consumers.

Everything about the Febreze Fabric Refresher spray has the potential to imply that this spray will literally take the bad smells away.

"The fine mist spray of Febreze with Clenzaire® eliminates odors that can linger in both your fabrics and air leaving nothing behind but freshness all around. It's a breath of fresh air."

Again, the term "odor eliminator" is not a scientific description so it really comes down to what the word phrase means to Febreze, which we may never know . Surely that is the exact reason they chose to use it.

Research into the makeup of Clenzaire®, the advertised star ingredient in Febreze Fabric Refresher proved mysterious with vague and carefully nondescript specifics. Similarly, the product lists the following ingredients only: Water, Alcohol, Odor Eliminator derived from Corn and Fragrance.

I am skeptical that Febreze Fabric Refresher is merely a cover up for odors instead of a remover of them. Even though my suspicions about this product were not proven correct, the fact that they were not proven incorrect either makes a very clear statement to me about the honesty of the Febreze brand.

I am officially distrusting of the Febreze brand after the experience of using and researching deeper into this product. Maybe they don't falsely advertise but who would knowingly purchase an air freshening product that only gets rid of the smell temporarily?

I'm fairly certain nobody would.

Febreze Fabric Refresher did not work and I do not recommend it to anyone. I consider the product to be nothing but a waste of my $5.99.