- Remember the dream of having a machine that would puff out a fragrance just at the right time during a movie to enhance your movie experience? The promise of the smell of a windy beach wafting through your living room right as our hero was sweeping our insipid heroine off her feet? That dot.com went bust.But, Wal Mart is back with the idea. Supposedly, by early summer, Wal Mart will be selling DVD’s with electronic kits that release smells at key moments during a movie.
I’m a bit dubious of this concept. Mostly because there are 3500 approved ingredients for fragrances that are used for skin applications and countless more for air fresheners. I suspect only a very small # of those aromachemicals can be put in their little box (and I’ve seen a mock up of it – it’s little, the size of a video tape). If only a limited # of the oleoresins used for manufacturing fragrances can be put into the box, this means that the end user will be left with simple formulations that smell somewhat like a windy beach, or a cherry pie, or mechanics grease but the end result will be subpar. Like smelling a very bad rose fragrance compared to a sophisticated blend by the world’s finest perfumer.
My thought is that the general public will not be placated by hideous, simple, synthetic blends that are mean to mimic what they’re watching on screen. Then again, betting against Wal-Mart doesn’t seem that smart given their amazing run.
Oh wait. Didn’t they just report that sales were down for the first time in years?
