"It seems to be possible to change the littering behaviour of people in a train environment using a simple and relatively cheap intervention," the researchers said to the British Psychological Society. "The positive results of our scent manipulation in a field setting provide support for the idea that the cognitive route of scents to behaviour can be used as a tool for behavioural change. Merely dispersing a scent seems to trigger related goals and influence subsequent behaviour."
Thanks to Ianvisits for alerting me to this research
In 2001 TfL trialled exposing commuters to a perfume called "Madeleine" at St James's Park, Euston and Piccadilly Circus stations (presumably they felt those stations were in more need of fragrance than others).
The fragrance was "a fresh, watery floral bouquet of rose and jasmine combined with citrus top notes. Tiny touches of fruit and herbs give way to strong woody accents and a hint of sweetness in the base." and was said to counteract the "interesting collection of odours in stations, reflecting all aspects of London life, some nice, some not so nice." It was withdrawn after a day as it made passengers feel sick.
The experiment that the Dutch researchers carried out could also be subject to the same conclusions. Maybe people just didn't like being in a carriage that smelt of cleaning products and moved to ones with more "natural" smells. This could have also been why there was less litter! Any other theories as to why there might have been less litter? Do you think an idea like this could help to reduce litter on the Tube?
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