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[A href="vny!://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/05/BAGAAMPI3D1.DTL"]SAN FRANCISCO
Bus riders sniff out shelters
New advertisements feature scent of chocolate chip cookies[/A] [/FONT][FONT size=2][/FONT]
[FONT face=geneva,arial size=1]- [A href="mailto:
[email protected]"]Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer[/A]
[/FONT][FONT face=geneva,arial size=-2]Tuesday, December 5, 2006
[/FONT] [A href="vny!://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/12/05/BAGAAMPI3D1.DTL&o=0&type=printable" target=""][img alt="Click to View" hspace=1 src="vny!://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/12/05_t/ba_cookies05_063_rad_t.gif" vspace=1 border=0][/A][A href="vny!://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/12/05/BAGAAMPI3D1.DTL&o=1&type=printable" target=""][img alt="Click to View" hspace=1 src="vny!://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/12/05_t/ba_cookies05_029_rad_t.gif" vspace=1 border=0][/A][A href="vny!://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/12/05/BAGAAMPI3D1.DTL&o=2&type=printable" target=""][img alt="Click to View" hspace=1 src="vny!://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/12/05_t/ba_cookies05_045_rad_t.gif" vspace=1 border=0][/A] Armineh Azizian, a 27-year-old dental hygienist, did something Monday she never did before: She pressed her nose against a bus shelter in downtown San Francisco and took a deep breath. "I don't smell it,'' she said with an air of disappointment. "I don't smell anything.'' That's because she was upwind. But downwind, the scent she was searching for wafted about -- subtle but distinctive. "It's very pleasant,'' said photojournalist Morton Beebe, 72, using a phrase not often associated with a San Francisco bus shelter, where the more odoriferous aspects of gritty urban living often linger. "It's not overwhelming.'' The novelty people were talking about Monday was the chocolate chip cookie scent placed in five bus shelters in the city as part of a marketing campaign by the California milk industry to promote its product. The idea is that once people get a whiff of the cookie scent, they'll get a hankering for milk. The scene Monday around one of the bus shelters, at Stockton and Sutter streets, was a bit like listening to the chatter in a winery tasting room. "Vanilla-y,'' one woman said as she walked past the shelter. "Cherry undertones -- and waxy,'' said another woman standing inside. "These don't smell anything like cookies my mom baked,'' said a teenager. "It smells like my kid's lunch pail,'' said one man. He walked away before he could say whether that smell was pleasing or offensive. The campaign has made news -- partly because it's the first of its kind in the nation, and partly because this being San Francisco, there's controversy. Criticism has come from animal-rights advocates who oppose the dairy industry and from those against promoting food products when there's hunger in the world. But leading the charge against the campaign have been activists in the scent-sensitive community who are upset that public space is being invaded with another aroma that, they fear, can induce headaches and nausea and trigger asthma attacks. There's an emerging political movement in the United States to snuff out the use of scents in advertising and marketing, but the trend is going the other way. Restaurants, hotels and shops are using fragrance to lure customers and brand products. Magazines have been stuffed with aromatic perfume ads for years. Blaze Palmer, who works with Azizian in a Sutter Street dental office, said people shouldn't get so uptight about the scented bus shelters. "There are already so many smells in this country. Only in San Francisco would people be offended about the smell of chocolate chip cookies.'' Jeff Goodby, whose advertising firm Goodby, Silverstein & Partners created the "Got Milk?'' slogan 13 years ago, said no one expected everybody to embrace the newest incarnation of the California Milk Processor Board campaign, particularly in a city known for causes. "Of course we're politically sensitive here,'' said Goodby. "But we also have a sense of humor.'' Louis Zafonte, vice president of Arcade Marketing, the company that manufactures the scent strips that are affixed to the bus shelters, speaks like a mix of preacher, scientist, therapist and businessman when he talks about scent. "Scent is a primary driver of memory,'' he said. "It can trigger wonderful memories.'' The strips, no larger than a typical adult's hand, have been strategically placed throughout five bus shelters in the Union Square, Financial District and Nob Hill neighborhoods. The aroma is expected to last a week or two before it will have to be replaced. Zafonte said the cost is about $25 per shelter. Zafonte, who flew in from New York City for Monday's bus shelter campaign kickoff, said people should have no reason to fear any unintended health consequences from the scent, saying it is derived from "very low concentrations'' of the same essential oils found in food products. "We don't expect it will affect anyone,'' he said. Joe Broulliette didn't want to take his chances. The 50-year-old night watchman from San Francisco doesn't like the idea of advertisers trying to mess with his mind. "I'd rather eat chocolate chip cookies than smell them,'' he said, standing outside the bus shelter at Stockton and Sutter. But Stephanie Jung was enticed by the power of suggestion. The 19-year-old fashion design student convinced her dad to drive her and her 14-year-old sister to the Stockton and Sutter bus shelter just so she could check it out. She described the scent as "crispy.'' And that's just how she likes her cookies: crispy around the edges, chewy in the middle. "I want to go home and have cookies and a glass of milk,'' Jung said. "It really works.''
E-mail Rachel Gordon at [A href="mailto:[email protected]"][email protected][/A].
