Gas Doesn't Smell Like It Used To

About

Gas Doesn't Smell Like It Used To refers to a series of videos on TikTok by numerous users in summer 2022 claiming that gas stations and gas itself smell different or less potent than they used to. The most prominent theory supporting these claims says gas may smell weaker due to a rise in the amount of ethanol added to it. Another hypothesis is that people unable to smell gas are suffering from long COVID or previously had the coronavirus, which is known to weaken some people's sense of smell. Some claim gas also burns faster than it used to and see these changes as a government conspiracy theory to sell more gas.

Origin

In late May 2022, TikTokers began posting videos claiming that gas doesn't smell as strong as it used to. The earliest known video sharing this theory was posted by TikToker^[1] @b_taylor92 on May 26th, 2022, and shows her at the gas station, captioned, "Anybody else notice gas doesn't really have a smell anymore…" gaining over 110,000 views in two weeks (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker @blackfoxfreedom posted a similar video suggesting the government is diluting the gas and that it burns faster now, gaining over 600,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On May 28th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @yungvec posted a video standing at a gas station captioned, "Somebody said they haven't smelled the gas at the gas station in a minute.. And you know what..🤔" gaining over 9.5 million views in a week (shown below).

Spread

On June 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[3] @motocheez posted a video where he smells gasoline, saying it smells more like rubbing alcohol than gas, gaining over 1.2 million views in six days (shown below).

On the same day, Twitter^[4] user @abbieasr posted screenshots from several TikToks supporting the theory, writing, "TikTok discourse of the week: everyone is convinced gasoline has lost its smell," gaining over 8,700 like in six days. On June 3rd, Twitter^[5] user @AShihipar retweeted the post, writing, "oh I see a new COVID indicator just dropped," gaining over 18,000 likes and 1,900 retweets in five days (shown below).

On June 3rd, 2022, ABC News^[6] reported that the EPA increased the amount of ethanol that must be mixed with fuel in the U.S. On June 7th, IFLScience^[7] published an article investigating the claims by TikTokers, citing this increase in ethanol as a possible reason that people with "sensitive" senses of smell might notice the change in scent. They also embed tweets where people claim COVID-19 could be the reason. In the piece, they cite a study^[8] about customers leaving increasing amounts of negative feedback to scented candle companies following the COVID-19 pandemic due to their dulled senses of smell.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References