Published: December 11, 2006 01:22 pm            

Cali debuts scented bus stops

SAN FRANCISCO — Five-year-old Gabby Supapo stuck her nose up in the air and sniffed. “Oreos,” she declared.

Not exactly what the California Milk Processor Board had in mind when it outfitted five San Francisco bus shelters with ads embedded with the smell of just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies.

The scented bus shelter advertisements made their U.S. debut Monday, according Louis Zafonte, spokesman for New York-based Arcade Marketing, which designed the ads to encourage milk drinking.

“Scent is a primary driver of memory,” Zafonte said. “When you smell baby powder or chocolate chip cookies, everyone feels good.”

To overcome the frequent blasts of exhaust and the funky whiffs that often permeate a big-city bus shelter, scented oils were sandwiched between cardboard cards emblazoned with “Got Milk?” and affixed to shelter walls.

It costs about $30 per shelter, Zafonte said, and the smell should last one to two weeks depending on the location. The displays will last about a month.

Critics have complained the ads could be offensive to the poor and homeless who can’t afford to buy sweet treats.

But shoppers near the Union Square shelter simply thought the ads were cute. “It makes me want to go to Starbucks,” said Gabby’s mother, Ihrene Supapo, 25.

        

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