• San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, December 1, 2006 11:15 AM

The California Milk Processor Board plans to infuse five bus shelters in San Francisco with the smell of fresh-baked, chocolate-chip cookies next week in an effort to entice commuters to go home and pour a glass of milk. "Got Milk?" posters at the shelters will provide visual cues.

The just-out-of-the-oven aroma will be embedded in scent-infused adhesive strips affixed throughout the interior of the shelters, including underneath the seats.

Olfactory marketing blitzes aren't new. There's the "new car" aroma at auto dealerships, "fresh-brewed coffee" smells in convenience stores and "rose scents" for florists. But there's a growing movement to limit artificial fragrances in public spaces. Anne Steinemann, professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs at the University of Washington, says the impact of artificial fragrances "is a real public health issue and a liability issue" that could pose dangers to asthmatics, for example.

Read the whole story at San Francisco Chronicle »