Volkswagen caused a stir in India last week when it placed a “talking advertisement†in the Times of India.
The newspaper is claiming this is the first advertisement of its sort to be
incorporated into a newspaper despite the fact that similar devices have been used in greetings
cards for years. We’ve even reported on a
magazine video advertisement before so it does seem
rather amazing that it has taken marketeers this long to come up with the idea.
The small device (pictured) played a pre-recorded message on a loop. The newspaper reported record
sales and the issue is said to have become a collector’s item.
However, not everyone
was thrilled with the novel marketing tool. Police departments throughout India said they received numerous emergency
calls by startled people who passed discarded devices. There were even reports that a bomb
squad attended a site, following reports that a beeping noise had been heard from a rubbish bin.