Scented scratch-and-sniff board books such as The Gingerbread Family by Grace Maccarone are popular among young children, who are intrigued by the wafts of gingerbread, gumdrops, chocolate, lemon, peppermint and marshmallow emanating from clear stickers of fragrance stuck onto the pages.
The technology works by treating a surface with a micro-fragrance coating, which when scratched emits whatever odour is specified on the label, according to the website Science.howstuffworks.com.
When a company started offering a nostalgic Smell of Books aerosol to spray on e-books to emulate the good old-fashioned scent of books, a few adults started to sit up and take notice.
“Does your Kindle leave you feeling like there’s something missing from your reading experience?” the advertisement on the internet says. “Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don’t smell right?”
The advertisement, which speaks of a “revolutionary new aerosol e-book enhancer” to spray on e-reading devices, goes further to offer other smells including a crunchy bacon scent, a classic musty smell and a “scent of sensibility” with the “scent of violets, horses and potpourri. It’s like living in a Jane Austen novel!” it claims.
By the time potential customers have clicked on the link Eau, You Have Cats, they may have smelled a rat. Described as having been “specially engineered from the concentrated aromas of 20,000 second-hand books”, it also has a warning in small print stating, “Use only in well-ventilated areas. Male cats may react adversely to this realistic scent. Do not use near upholstered fabric.”
The Smell of Books aerosol is, in fact, a perplexing scam from a supposed company named DuroSport Electronics, supposedly originating somewhere in Eastern Europe. It has fooled many and it is still out there, complete with 17,000 apparent Facebook likes (or could those also be fictional?)
The perpetrator also put on its website that the Authors Guild was particularly upset about this product, which it was said to have called defective and demanded “the DuroSport Corporation remove the Smell of Books product line from the market”.
However, when GN Focus approached the Authors Guild, the US’ oldest and largest professional society of published authors, about the authenticity of the letter of complaint, the reply stated, “As per our Executive Director Paul Aiken, we can certainly confirm that the letter is a scam. Sincerely, Nicole Vazquez, The Authors Guild, 31 East 32nd St, 7th Floor, New York.” The question is — why do it?
