What Does "Dinosaur" Smell Like?
Erik is out of the office this week, so we are reprinting a column from 2003, which is why some of the references are a little outdated. (Besides, Adam Sandler has turned into a fine actor.)
It was bound to happen someday. In the 1950s, we were given 3-D glasses to make movies "come to life." In the '80s and '90s, it was Surround Sound that put us "in the middle of the action." And in the 21st century, odor is the Next Big Thing that will make entertainment and education more realistic.
But we have to draw the line somewhere.
At the Dewa Roman Experience in Chester, England, museum officials thought adding certain odors ("odours" if you're English) to the exhibit would make it more interesting to visitors (not "visitours"). So they added the appropriate smell to their reconstruction of a Roman latrine.
Unfortunately, the "pong" (that's British for odor) was so realistic that several children from visiting school groups became sick, and four of them vomited on the spot. The product was diluted and returned, but two more children got sick the next week.
Needless to say, the staff exchanged the original smell for a less vomit-inducing one.
The original smell, Flatulence, was created by Dale Air, an aroma manufacturing company in Lancashire, England.
"The smell was disgusting. It was like very strong boiled cabbage, sweet and sickly," supervisor Christine Turner said in an interview on the BBC's children's website.
Dale Air also makes Boiled Cabbage aroma
In fact, Dale Air makes nearly 200 different odors, both food and non-food related. They have wonderful smells like Coffee, Eucalyptus, and Lavender. But they also have a few that will wrinkle your nose, like Dinosaur, Mustard Gas, Sweaty Feet, or my personal favorite, Old Drifter.
Surprisingly, Dale Air does not make Vomit aroma, although I'm sure they could.
The center already uses different aromas to add realism to the exhibit of Roman life in Brittania, including Fish Market and Public Bath, also produced by Dale Air.
And while I applaud the Dewa Roman Experience and Dale Air for creating realistic historical displays, the big question is why would you want to exhibit a Roman latrine in the first place? Or more importantly, why would you want a realistic smell for it?
One website on English culture describes the latrine experience: "We look through a window into a small dark room and jump with alarm as a voice rudely shouts 'Who do you think you are looking at?' to discover a Roman soldier sitting on a Roman toilet."
Now I'm a big fan of the total educational experience. I love visiting the World Showcase at Disney's Epcot Center. I enjoy recreations of historic battles, events, and everyday life. And it would help me understand the life of the Romans in Brittania if I smelled Roman fish markets, public baths, and horse stables.
But do we really need to know about the Ancient Romans' toilet habits? Definitely not.
I like to think of the Roman soldiers as historical figures who fought epic battles and oppressed entire cultures, not ill-mannered brutes who perched on toilets and shouted at bystanders. So how did an idea for something like this develop?
Museum Administrator #1: Attendance is down this month. We need something to bring more visitors to the center.
Museum Administrator #2: How about life as a Roman horse groomer?
Museum Administrator #1: No, we've already done that.
Museum Administrator #2: What about a Roman latrine, complete with realistic poo smell?
Museum Administrator #1: That's brilliant!
And so with the proper marketing and advertising campaign ("Now With 67% More Poo Smell!"), the Dewa Roman Center seeks to become an educational stop on any British family vacation.
British Mother: Children, where would you like to go on holiday this year? Euro Disney or the Roman Latrine exhibit in Chester?
British Children: Roman latrines, Mummy, Roman latrines!!
British Mother: But children, you could meet Mickey Mouse.
British Children: Yes, but the Roman latrines have Realistic Poo Smell!
But Dale Air says theme-based aromas are the wave of the future, and they're bringing them to the world. They provide realistic odors to places like the smell of horses at Scott's Hut in New Zealand, coal fire smells in the Tenement Museum in New York, and even the smells of a swamp and a Tyrannosaurus Rex's breath at London's Natural History Museum.
And now their next big venture is movies, where they "aim to change the theatre experience." No longer are you limited to just seeing and hearing car chases, you'll smell the gasoline and burning tires. You'll smell the ocean as the "Jaws" theme plays in the background. And you'll be overwhelmed by panic sweat anytime you watch an Adam Sandler movie, although it may be your own.
But if they ever odorize anything with Anna Nicole Smith, I'm never watching movies again.
My book, Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself
(affiliate link), is available on Amazon.com, as well as at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores. (Okay, maybe not Borders.) I wrote it with my good friend, Kyle Lacy.---
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