About 2.2 million copies of The Times of India and The Hindu circulated Tuesday contained a page with the chip that activated a voice recording when turned. The voice is an audio version of a print advertisement on Volkswagen's new sedan, the Vento.

Elderly readers complained to police that they were frightened by the talking newspapers, which also triggered a bomb scare when passersby became suspicious of the noise emitted by discarded copies.

There were also upset readers when the chips from wet newspapers did not work.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen India officials were very pleased with the talking newspapers because their advertising campaign proved successful. The ad agency MediaCom made the voice advertising.

Baskar Das, president of The Times Group, publisher of The Times of India, called the talking Volkswagen ad innovative and could change the way print media is viewed.