unfair that parents have to have awkward conversations with their children

A problem which UK readers will not be familiar with but which drives some American parents crazy is the relentless bombardment of TV advertisements promoting Viagra and Cialis. In the UK advertisements for prescription medications are illegal, however in the United States the huge influence of the pharmaceutical industry means that prescription medicine manufacturers spend millions if not billions of dollars on TV adverts every year.

One group who is dead set against the erectile dysfunction advertisements is the Parents Television Council. They are not opposed to them because of any ethical medical reasons but purely because they say that children should not be exposed to this sort of advertising and that it is unfair that parents have to have awkward conversations with their children to explain what Viagra and Cialis are.

Well the good news is that the drug companies Pfizer and Eli Lilly & Co who manufacture Viagra and Cialis respectively have agreed to give the Parents Television Council the exact schedules of when and on what channels advertisements for their impotence drugs will appear. The President of the Parents Television Council, Mr. Tim Winter described the agreement as "an important step" which will help to address the concerns that many parents have about advertisements for these impotence drugs.

Advertisements for prescription erectile dysfunction drugs usually appear during major sporting events because the advertisers know that the majority of viewers will be men. This pledge by Pfizer and Eli Lilly to forewarn the Parents Television Council will require a lot of planning and organizing to be effective.

In practice it seems a little bit ridiculous that the Parents Television Council will get weekly warnings about future erectile dysfunction advertisements because the chances of them being able to relay this information to households who don't want their children to see them is a bit farfetched and unrealistic.

Why can't they just only put on these advertisements say after 10:00 PM? Is it because all of those men who might need Viagra and Cialis have already fallen asleep?