San Francisco will soon have bus shelters…
…infused with the scent of fresh-baked, chocolate-chip cookies.
It’s the brainchild of marketers for the California Milk Processor Board, who are hoping the captive crowds waiting for a bus will be enticed to go home and grab a glass of milk after they take a whiff of the artificial scent and are cued visually with “Got Milk?” advertisements to be posted in the shelters…
“Turning Up Our Noses” is an interesting read in December's Prospect Magazine:
It is strange that, in a culture so desensitised to smell, most women still wear perfume almost every day, and, according to Evelyn Lauder, about 50 new fragrances are produced each year. Two millennia ago, Pliny made the same observation, complaining about the time and money wasted on perfume given that the wearer doesn't even derive much pleasure from it him or herself.
50 new fragrances? Somebody apparently lost count very early in the year.
The LA Times has a profile on perfumer Neal Harris and his company ScentEvents…
In the Financial Times, "The Subtle Art of Selling Hope in a Bottle" looks at Elizabeth Arden's success in the celebrity perfume arena.
In the New York Sun, an article about Bond no. 9 Fire Island: "If you can't be tan, you can smell like you are". Read it here (link no longer working, sorry).
In the Los Angeles Times, an article about the growing use of perfume in hotels.
Harry Slatkin of Slatkin & Co has a sensitive nose:
We all know what it's like to be downwind from the lady at the opera who slathered too much tuberose on herself before the performance. You feel as if you're going to pass out.
Welcome to my world.
My defense is a long scarf and a bottle of Black Fig and Absinthe, a licorice-hinted fragrance that I created. I spray the scarf and cover myself with it while I'm on a plane or in a cab.
Read the rest of the article at the New York Times.
A reality show about perfume? It was bound to happen eventually…
Last year saw a chocolate-scented premiere of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, but now movie-goers in Japan will experience fragranced entertainment on a new level:
A new service from a major telecommunications company, NTT Communications Corp., will synchronize seven different smells to parts of "The New World," starring Colin Farrell.
A floral scent accompanies a love scene, while a mix of peppermint and rosemary is emitted during a tear-jerking scene. Joy is a citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, while anger is enhanced by a herb-like concoction with a hint of eucalyptus and tea tree.
Read more at MSNBC.