Industry executives are especially concerned about growing sentiment to regulate the ads.
A law took effect in California earlier this year requiring magazine distributors to keep scents from escaping from the ads before the fragrance strips are opened. The California law, however, has little muscle since violators can only be fined $100 for each mass mailing of an offending publication.
Some consumers are so annoyed by fragrance strips that they have canceled subscriptions to magazines.
Still, many magazine publishers believe that the risk of losing some readers pales in comparison to the larger risk of losing the fat advertising revenue from fragrance ads.
"Magazines will not say no to Scent Strips until readers complain in great numbers," said Steve Ellwanger, editor of Inside Media, a New York-based trade publication. "Eventually, magazines will get so thick with these things that they'll smell like department stores and feel like catalogues."
Briefly . . .
The 6-year-old Los Angeles agency Vogel Communications Group has closed, but several of its clients and a handful of its employees have been absorbed by DDB Needham/Los Angeles. . . . The Hajjar/Kaufman ad agency has opened in Marina del Rey, with Canon Computer Systems of Costa Mesa as its first client. . . . Korean car maker Kia, which plans to launch a U.S. distribution arm in Irvine next year, has received hundreds of inquiries from agencies eager to land its $15-million account. . . . The Santa Monica agency Kresser/Craig Advertising has won the $2.6-million ad account for the California Department of Conservation's division of recycling. . . . San Diego-based Franklin Stoorza has been handed the $1-million account for Del Mar-based Sassaby, a cosmetic kit firm. . . . The eclectic New York agency Kirshenbaum & Bond is preparing to open a Los Angeles office. . . . The Advertising Club of Los Angeles' Magazine Day Conference begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. . . . Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency has hired Richard Donner, director of the "Lethal Weapon" hits, to direct several TV spots for Coca-Cola. . . . Oldsmobile has begun broadcasting ads vowing that General Motor's embattled car division "isn't throwing in the towel." . . . Creative Works of Irvine and Roddan Public Relations & Advertising of Redondo Beach have been hired to market Smithcliffs, a Laguna Beach residential real estate development. . . . Phillip Joanou, creator of "Partnership For a Drug-Free America" and chairman of the LA agency Daily & Associates, was named "advertising leader of the West" at the American Advertising Federation's Western Conference in Las Vegas.
