John Waters takes over the world: LA Times to use scratch & sniff advertising

The Times’ execs have seen the future of marketing and it is … the odorama card from Polyester.

The Los Angeles Times is set to introduce scented ink in its advertising, delivering the smell of frosted cake to promote “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” set to debut November 16. The movie, a 20th Century Fox release, stars Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman in a tale about a magical toy store. The cake-scented ad will run in the Sept. 9 edition of its movie section, titled “Sneak.” The scratch-n-sniff ad is the latest gambit from the LA Times to attract print advertising and boost reader engagement with ads. Recently, the paper’s publisher David Hiller said it would begin selling ads on the front page.

If the mainstream is going to co-opt so many of Mr. Waters’ ideas, could they also co-opt some of his charm?

BTW, a better blogger would’ve included a photo of his wife’s Odorama card autographed by Mr. W. Sadly, I’m not a better blogger.

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