Advertisers Go for the Nose

If you think scented advertising begins and ends with old-school scratch-and-sniff ads, brace yourself, and your nose, for a coming assault. It's sort of a double-whammy in the advertising world, Salon reports: Marketers are learning more every day about how smells hold sway over our emotions, and chemists can synthesize just about anything. "Scent will soon be a normal part of advertising and entertainment," said one industry leader.

Some successful examples: The aroma of milk chocolate circulating around a Hershey's vending machine, the smell of Nivea pumped into a theater via air-conditioning ducts, and various pleasant scents placed everywhere from casinos to department stores. "Scent goes right to your emotions," says the industry expert. "And if I can appeal to your primal senses, I've got you."  (More advertising stories.)