From Kevin Parker
I read Feedback’s epistle about manufacturers adding scents to consumer products with some sympathy (16 January). My wife and I recently bought a large bag of birdseed with a sickly sweet cherry odour so pungent that it permeated the entire house until we sealed it in a large plastic bag. When I come home in the evening I can tell whether my wife has filled the bird feeders, even if it was hours ago.
What is mystifying is that birds have no sense of smell, so this odour must be intended for the purchaser’s benefit. As Feedback notes about other scented items, the smell will remind us never to buy this particular product again.
Greenbelt, Maryland, US
