Cookie scent? No thanks, we'd rather have fumes

SAN FRANCISCO - What was billed as a pleasing alternative to exhaust fumes at San Francisco bus stops ended after officials ordered the removal of advertisements that gave off the scent of baked biscuits.

The fragrant billboards, posted at five bus shelters in an effort by dairy producers to make passengers thirsty for milk, had to come down because the shelters' maintenance contractor had not informed San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials.

"What they did not do is consult with anybody at our agency prior to doing that," spokeswoman Maggie Lynch said. "Apparently everybody knew besides us."

The agency also received several complaints from bus users concerned that the aroma might not be safe.

The project was cooked up by the California Milk Processor Board which said that the scent's ingredients were flavour-based oils found in many foods. The campaign used scent-infused adhesives affixed under bus benches and inside the shelters.

The board said: "[It was] intended to be a tasteful change from the frequent blasts of exhaust that permeate the air around some of San Francisco's bus shelters."

- REUTERS