Well, they smelled like something (the article references men thinking that their smell was "manly" - I admit I still secretly think that), it's just that whatever they smelled like didn't have a negative connotation. Marketing convinced them that it was a bad thing and that they needed to fix it.

Anecdotally, deodorant was a rite of passage for me as a teenage boy. As an adult with an office job, I find a lot of the time I don't need it (just like it turns out to be not a great idea to wash my hair every day). Additionally, I feel increasingly leery about rubbing aluminum under my arms every day. Do I smell? I don't think so. Am I headed for an office intervention? God I hope not.