Steak-Scented Billboard Entices Drivers

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Steak-Scented Billboard Entices Drivers

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 9, 2010 @04:48AM from the steak-and-diesel dept.

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."

59 of 282 comments (clear)

BBQ? by Vinegar+Joe · 2010-06-09 04:49 · Score: 5, Funny

Screw that! I want BACON!!!

--
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
1. Re:BBQ? by Golddess · 2010-06-09 05:26 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  I thought Canadian bacon was leaner?
  
  --
  "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
2. Re:BBQ? by WrongSizeGlass · 2010-06-09 05:52 · Score: 2, 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.
3. Re:BBQ? by Hatta · 2010-06-09 06:32 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  As much as I love bacon, the smell of good, slowly smoked BBQ beats it every time. There's nothing like stopping at a shack on the side of some southern highway on a cool 90F afternoon in early summer for some ribs that have been smoked all day long. A glass of lemonade to drench the heat from the dry rub and a wedge of corn bread, and you have the finest meal imaginable.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
4. Re:BBQ? by treeves · 2010-06-09 07:45 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hey, were you an extra in Wall-E?
  
  --
  ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
Push button, receive bacon by tepples · 2010-06-09 04:50 · Score: 4, Funny

Screw that! I want BACON!!!
For that, all you need is to go into a gas station and use the restroom. Push button, receive bacon.
At first I wondered if it was real... by Shadow+Wrought · 2010-06-09 04:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Then I realized that they had not, in fact, made a misteak.

--
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
1. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2010-06-09 05:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Then I realized that they had not, in fact, made a misteak.
  ARGH I hate you for using that stupid pun. I hope the next time you pull out into an intersection you get T-Boned!
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
2. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by Monkeedude1212 · 2010-06-09 05:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ARGH I hate you for using that stupid pun.
  Really? I thought it was remarkably well done.
3. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by dancingmilk · 2010-06-09 05:43 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Seeing a thread with this many good puns in it is pretty rare.
4. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by Monkeedude1212 · 2010-06-09 06:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I know! Can you believe someone rolled through and modded us all trolls? What's his beef?
5. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by Hoi+Polloi · 2010-06-09 06:50 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Please be serious, this is a meaty subject.
  
  --
  It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
6. Re:At first I wondered if it was real... by Niddix · 2010-06-09 10:09 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Oh they just had a cow since they couldn't come up with one of their own.
A Scentsor? by Izabael_DaJinn · 2010-06-09 04:53 · Score: 3, Interesting

I always wondered why there can't be an electronic way to generate smells, such as how a speaker produces sounds. Is it theoretically possible to ever create a machine or device that can create a variety of scents based on some sort of scent-spectrum? Or are "cartridges loaded with BBQ fragrance oil" the best we'll ever do? (This is one of those questions I have always wondered but been afraid to ask!)
iza

--
Careful What You Wish For....
1. Re:A Scentsor? by Shadow+Wrought · 2010-06-09 04:59 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  AFAIK, the easy part is generating the smell. The difficult part is how to move from one smell to another. Once the speakers stop, the sounds waves stop propogating almost immediately. But a smell will still be lingering. I believe they tried this with some movie houses back in the 50's (billed as Smell-O-Vision probably:-) and they just couldn't get one smell out of the theatre in time for the next one.
  
  I'm also pretty sure I don't want to think about how some web sites would actually use such technology for generating a profit.
  
  --
  If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
2. Re:A Scentsor? by clone53421 · 2010-06-09 05:02 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  No more so than a printer has to synthesise arbitrary coloured dyes.
  
  --
  Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
3. Re:A Scentsor? by Deag · 2010-06-09 05:18 · Score: 2, 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.
4. Re:A Scentsor? by wjousts · 2010-06-09 05:22 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Printer -> 4 colors (3 primaries plus black)
  Smell-o-whatever -> several hundred different aroma compounds
  That's your problem. There is, as far as anybody's been able to demonstrate, such a thing as a primary odor. You have somewhere in the region of 1000 different odor receptors in your nose but they are mostly non-specific and have overlapping sensitivities that make it next to impossible to reproduce all possible aromas from a small subset of chemicals. Couple that with the fact that aroma chemicals are, by necessity, volatile (otherwise you couldn't smell them) and you have a real problem with shelf-life too. If you had an olfactometer with a few hundred chemicals for producing smells, you would be forever having to replace the chemicals because they have evaporated away.
5. Re:A Scentsor? by wjousts · 2010-06-09 05:32 · Score: 4, 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.
6. Re:A Scentsor? by wjousts · 2010-06-09 05:35 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Producing a single smell (like steak) or a small number of smells is easy. Generating a system that would be flexible enough to cover a wide range of the "aroma space" is much more difficult. That aside, your point about lingering is also very true. It's pretty hard to suck the aroma back out of a space and there are problems with contamination as well (example, I was grilling over the weekend and the clothes I wore that day still smell like smoke).
7. Re:A Scentsor? by kno3 · 2010-06-09 05:47 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  you would be forever having to replace the chemicals because they have evaporated away.
  I can't see that that would be a problem. Printer ink is volatile, but that has a reasonable shelf life. You just keep it in a closed container until it is actually needed. In fact, if you didn't do that then your "olfactometer" (surely it would be more a olfactoducer) would constantly be producing the biggest concoction of scents it could muster.
8. Re:A Scentsor? by Anachragnome · 2010-06-09 06:38 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  "Generating a system that would be flexible enough to cover a wide range of the "aroma space" is much more difficult."
  Not at all. The big mall we have here in town manages numerous smells during all business hours. The clothing shops have leather scents wafting from them, the jewelry stores have rose scents and such, etc, etc. Every single store has SOME scent being pushed out the front door into the open areas of the mall. They simply have some periodic sprayer releasing canned scents into a fan duct above the doors. They've been doing it for at least the six years I've lived here.
  It is also the reason I don't do ANY business there anymore.
  I have a headache within 15 minutes of walking in the door of the mall. The problem is that they are not using actual components for smells, such as leather to produce the smell of leather, but rather some chemical composition that merely smells like leather. All of the smells are artificial and there is no regulation of the chemicals they are exposing all of the customers to. The companies that manufacture the scents are the only ones determining what is used and what isn't. Considering they do it for profit, I do not assume they are using known SAFE chemicals but rather chemicals that simply smell like what the customers want. I actually tried to find out what chemicals they use. The mall managers denied they used them at all, yet when I pointed out the clothing shop that smelled like leather but didn't sell a scrap of actual leather, I was told that the smells of the mall "mingle" and that it was probably from a different store.
9. Re:A Scentsor? by bcmm · 2010-06-09 06:39 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That works because we have only have three types of receptor for colour vision (plus rods for greyscale night-vision). Colours are distinguished by how much they stimulate each receptor, and things that stimulate them in the same proportions are seen to be the same colour, even if the light is not composed of the same frequencies. Thus, you can approximately simulate any combination of frequencies at various intensities by combining, at appropriate intensities, just three frequencies that each stimulate one receptor strongly while having little effect on the other two.
  
  Olafaction is rather less well understood, but almost certainly involves a much greater number of receptors.
  
  --
  # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
  Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
Other Smells by jdpars · 2010-06-09 04:54 · Score: 4, Funny

I wonder what the billboards for the local strip clubs will smell like.
1. Re:Other Smells by Monkeedude1212 · 2010-06-09 05:04 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I'm more concerned with that billboard for Sceptic tank repair.
2. Re:Other Smells by Abstrackt · 2010-06-09 05:04 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I wonder what the billboards for the local strip clubs will smell like.
  Sweaty perverts and broken dreams I imagine.
  
  --
  They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
3. Re:Other Smells by TheLink · 2010-06-09 05:12 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Oh noes a tank full of unwashed sceptics...
  --
  
  Too many replies beneath your current threshold
4. Re:Other Smells by linzeal · 2010-06-09 05:46 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Ass, lotion and desperation.
  
  --
  An Education is the Font of All Liberty
5. Re:Other Smells by KillaBeave · 2010-06-09 06:04 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Bath & Body Works mixed with equal parts sweat and shame.
Bet you didn't think of this by girlintraining · 2010-06-09 04:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

And what about people who get sick at the smell or sight of meat? Not all of us get all wet at the thought of eating a giant piece of cow. How is this different than wearing thick cologne or perfume, or slathering on aftershave to the point that the hallway still reeks of it hours after your passage? You know what, I'd rather smell burnt gas and diesel than half the things the general public slathers all over their body in the name of attracting the opposite sex. People who wear Axe and Old Spice, I'm looking at you.
And now in addition to my daily routine of overly-scented people, they're adding overly-scented advertising? :( As if flashing, gyrating signs, sometimes moving and smoking, signs that are visible for miles wasn't enough. What next, shooting french fries at passing motorists?

--
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1. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by PlasmaEye · 2010-06-09 04:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  What next, shooting french fries at passing motorists?
  Now that's what I call Fast Food.
2. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by hedwards · 2010-06-09 05:02 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The technology should be completely banned. It's hard enough for those with chemical sensitivities to go about their lives without getting sick as it is. Having billboards distributing fragrances which may or may not make people sick is just wrong. It's bad enough for those of us that just have easily irritated noses, I feel sorry for the people that get really sick.
3. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by clone53421 · 2010-06-09 05:04 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  And what about people who get sick at the smell or sight of meat?
  I guess there’s just yet another place they’d have to avoid, as well as not being able to drive on half the streets in the city anyway because of various meat smells emanating from the restaurants and fast-food places.
  Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be as big a deal as you seem to think.
  
  --
  Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
4. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Monkeedude1212 · 2010-06-09 05:12 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And what about people who get sick at the smell or sight of meat?
  What about the people who get sick at the smell or sight vegatables?
  If it had been the smell of a fresh salad would you mind as much?
  Don't hold your breath, I don't think this idea will catch on.
5. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Sir_Lewk · 2010-06-09 05:30 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I hope they start selling this stuff in cans. I could use it as vegan repelent.
  
  --
  "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
6. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Sir_Lewk · 2010-06-09 05:32 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Something should be banned nationwide because your wife doesn't like it. Wow, that is some seriously messed up perspective you've got there.
  
  --
  "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
7. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by lowrydr310 · 2010-06-09 05:42 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I live near a facility that manufactures food flavorings and scented additives, most notably ALL the scented oils that are used in the production of a well-known national candle store. At times, depending on the temperature and density of air and the speed and direction of wind, the heavy combination of scents can linger. It's not too bad actually; it almost smells like incense, however I can see how some people could be irritated by it.
8. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Macrat · 2010-06-09 05:53 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  (she has a strong nose).
  And she hasn't left you yet?
9. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by StuartHankins · 2010-06-09 05:57 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I was told by several women that they didn't like Drakkar, Gio, Polo, Givenchy Pi, Joop, Oscar de la Renta, Quorum, Paloma's Minotaur, and Boss. At first I thought it was just the girl but it seems some actually prefer the cheap air-freshener scents. To prefer Bath and Body works or Old Spice / Coty / CK seems very alien to me. Maybe people are losing the ability to pick up some of the varied tones in these?
10. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by 19thNervousBreakdown · 2010-06-09 06:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Your wife is an annoying twat.
  
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11. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Khyber · 2010-06-09 06:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Let me pour some H2SO4 on you then, since you claim to not be sensitive to chemicals.
  
  --
  Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
12. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by CODiNE · 2010-06-09 06:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  People who wear Axe and Old Spice, I'm looking at you.
  Damn did I leave my webcam on again???
  
  --
  Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
13. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by nomadic · 2010-06-09 07:25 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I was told by several women that they didn't like Drakkar, Gio, Polo, Givenchy Pi, Joop, Oscar de la Renta, Quorum, Paloma's Minotaur, and Boss.
  
  There's the problem, you're wearing them all at once. Believe me, women don't like that, I know from experience.
14. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Nadaka · 2010-06-09 07:27 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Irritated isn't quite what I would call it.
  It takes 1 breath of air near scented candles to cause me "irritation". A few minutes of exposure to scented candles and I will have chest pain and trouble breathing. It takes 15 minutes of exposure to scented candles and I will actually start bleeding from my nose. More than that soon I will start vomiting.
  The chemicals used in many cleaning products and perfumes cause similar, but less severe reactions as well.
15. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Hatta · 2010-06-09 08:07 · Score: 2, 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(my emphasis):
  
  INTRODUCTION: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is an acquired disorder with recurrent symptoms referable to multiple organ systems. No widely accepted test of physiologic function correlates with symptoms and it has not been recognized as a distinct entity by the scientific community. Few double-blind placebo-controlled studies have been done. The objectives of this study were to test two hypotheses: that patients with MCS can distinguish reliably between solvents and placebo, and that there are significant differences in objective biological and neuropsychological parameters between solvent and placebo exposures. METHODS: Twenty patients with MCS and 17 controls underwent six exposure sessions (solvent mixture and clean air in random order, double-blind) in a challenge chamber. Positive reactions were defined as subjective perception of being exposed to solvents, blood pressure or heart rate change of > or = 10%, rash or clinical signs of hypoxia, or symptom severity rise after exposure. RESULTS: No differences between the groups with regard to sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were found. Cognitive performance was not influenced by solvent exposure, and did not differ between the groups. There was no difference between the groups in serum cortisol levels measured before and after exposures. CONCLUSION: The hypotheses were not confirmed.
  
  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.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
16. Re:Bet you didn't think of this by Misagon · 2010-06-09 22:21 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I am appaled that the post above was moderated as "Funny".
  This is a serious problem for many people, and that is not a joke!
  Myself, I would suffer a migraine attack from 15 minutes exposure of the wrong type of scented candles (some are OK, some are not, it depends on the chemical in the scent).
  And even if I can "cure" the migraine with medicine, that medicine has side-effects such as nausea, sleepiness and sluggishness .. and can have an adverse effect on your body in the long term.
  I have had to make the cleaning woman at the office change to using different cleaning products so that I wouldn't suffer migraines there.
  I have to change seats in the subway if someone with strong perfume seats herself (it is usually an older woman) too close to me.
  This is no joke.
  
  --
  "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
EIR by MightyMait · 2010-06-09 04:55 · Score: 4, Interesting

Hmmm...I wonder if something like this requires an environmental impact report. Could those scents be toxic?

--
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1. Re:EIR by Kozar_The_Malignant · 2010-06-09 05:19 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  This is North Carolina. I think smoking is still mandatory there.
  
  --
  Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
2. Re:EIR by 19thNervousBreakdown · 2010-06-09 07:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  By mitigate, I mean mitigate your annoyance to others. Don't hide it, you're a fruitcake, just be a fruitcake. But acting like you're saving my fucking life and I should be eternally grateful because you got "chemical" smells banned offends me infinitely more than even your awful b.o. You're doing it because you've concocted some weird theory of irritants and health meters and are worried that your own health meter is red and flashy, so don't pretend to give a shit about others when you know for a fact that even if it was discovered that the smell of tetra-hydra-peroxipterodactyl added 10 years to your life and b.o. caused impotence you wouldn't change a thing.
  Also as annoying as I personally find your kind, I don't wish a bike accident or anything on you, and I wouldn't be happy in even the smallest way if you did get plowed by a Dow Chemical delivery truck while biking and coughing your high-pitched cough through the inner city to the farmer's market that's taking up all the fucking parking in my office complex.
  I mean, I wouldn't cry 'cause I'm not a fag, but I would genuinely feel bad for you and your family.
  
  --
  <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
Think about the vegans! by Anonymous Coward · 2010-06-09 05:02 · Score: 2, Funny

We want billboards that smell like BBQ'd vegans!
Post from The Future! by Quiet_Desperation · 2010-06-09 05:06 · Score: 3, Funny

ScentAir, The Silent Killer
by Mavra Chang, Reuters, New York
June 9, 2023
The advertising world took another hit as the 1000th case of brain cancer from the ScentAir advertising campaign was announced today...
Scooped by NPR??? by Itninja · 2010-06-09 05:09 · Score: 4, Informative

NPR covered this a week go. Granted, this is idle, but come on...

--
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Re:Oh boy by localman57 · 2010-06-09 05:14 · Score: 3, Funny

Old Spice.
Re:Oh boy by darth+dickinson · 2010-06-09 05:16 · Score: 2, Funny

I wonder what Viagra smells like? You know it's coming...
Looks like you just answered your own question.
Smells like shame! by strayant · 2010-06-09 05:24 · Score: 4, Funny

So, would a billboard for a strip club smell like shame?
Re:Oh boy by dbet · 2010-06-09 06:13 · Score: 2, Funny

Old Spice.
Ladies look at me, now back at the road, now back to me, now look at that tree you're about to hit.
Re: Air Pollution by meustrus · 2010-06-09 06:24 · Score: 2, Interesting

I guess I won't be traveling through North Carolina then, because my wife is vegetarian and the smell of some meat is now disturbing to her. I'm told it's pretty universal for people who have not eaten meat in a long time to feel nauseous at the smell of strong meats like bacon or barbecue.

--
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
Re: Air Pollution by chronosan · 2010-06-09 07:12 · Score: 2, Insightful

It's called a craving, it only feels bad because your body chemistry is messed up from eating too much processed soy products. Also in your head, like the difference between being tickled and .... aroused.
Location, location, location... by fahrbot-bot · 2010-06-09 07:35 · Score: 2, Funny

Can we get one of these mounted here in Norfolk, Va near the PETA office?

--
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .