Steak-Scented Billboard Entices Drivers 282
In addition to car exhaust and road grime, travelers along Highway 150 in North Carolina can now enjoy the smell of a barbecue thanks to a new billboard. The work of ScentAir, which provides custom scents for businesses, the advertisement for a local grocer emits the smell of charcoal and black pepper over the highway. "Marketing director Murray Dameron said the beef scent was emitted by a high-powered fan at the bottom of the billboard that blows air over cartridges loaded with BBQ fragrance oil. 'It smells like grilled meat with a nice pepper rub on it,' he explained."
CARCINOGENIC AIR POLLUTION (Score:0, Informative)
do not want, sue sue sue
Scooped by NPR??? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A Scentsor? (Score:3, Informative)
Some theme park rides have them. There is one in Disney world that has scents as well as 3d and water splashing and stuff.
Re:BBQ? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Scentsor? (Score:5, Informative)
You can't electronically reproduce a smell in a way analogous to a speaker. Olfaction is a chemical sense (along with taste) and requires chemicals to be present in order to be smelt. In other words, any device for producing aromas has to have a reservoir of aroma chemicals already present, in the same way a printer must have a reservoir of ink. Unfortunately, unlike a printer where you can produce a good range of colors from 3 primary colored inks, the same doesn't happen with smell. There is no such thing (as far as anybody has been able to identify) as a primary smell. You can't reproduce the smell of benzaldehyde by mixing other chemicals in any simple straightforward way.
That's not to say you can produce a range of aromas by mixing chemicals, of course you can, it's what perfumers and flavorist do all day; but the palette of chemicals they use for, say, producing steak aromas is both large and quite different than the palette they'd use to produce, say, strawberry aromas. If you wanted a palette that could reasonably cover the entire range of aromas you might smell in everyday life (from steak and strawberries to gasoline and dog shit) it would easily run into several hundred chemicals.
Re:BBQ? (Score:3, Informative)
Why are most Americans fat, again?
I don't know about most Americans, but this American is fat because I sit at this computer all day, stuff my face with hot pockets and cheesy poofs, and the only thing close to 'exercise' I get is using the remote control or my smartphone. That's just my assumptions anyway, 'cuz I'm not a doctor.
Re:Bet you didn't think of this (Score:3, Informative)
In severe cases exposure to fragrance can lead to coma and even death.
I'd be interested in some good references for that assertion. A search of PubMed for "fragrance" (also tried "perfume" and "scent") and "coma" yielded nothing of the sort. Searching for "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity MCS" doesn't bring up any useful case studies either. It did however bring up this study [nih.gov](my emphasis):
As far as modern science can tell us, those with MCS cannot distinguish between solvents and placebo AND there are no significant differences in objective biological and neuropsychological parameters between solvent and placebo exposures.
Re:Bet you didn't think of this (Score:1, Informative)
That's because people "afflicted" with MCS are the same population who believe in alien abductions. They're simply bored individuals who feel the need to create ailments to give them something to talk about and obsess over. I know a girl who claims she has both MCS and fibromyalgia and the only time she ever complains about either is when she's in a situation where she doesn't want to do something. Hang out with her friends? Cool. Go shopping at the mall? Cool. Go to Wal-Mart to pick up some cat food? Fibro! Oh, it hurts so much! Take a trip to the art museum? Cool. Go shopping with her boyfriend at the mall for a pair of shoes? MCS! The fragrances at the perfume counter suddenly become overwhelming, even though she doesn't have to go anywhere near the same side of the mall!