Impotence Adverts Under Fire

In the United States advertisements for the big 3 erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are allowed to be aired providing that the drugs aren’t mentioned by name and only the manufacturers names are mentioned. So the adverts will just talk about getting help for impotence without for example mentioning the drug Cialis. This is so that the actual decision about what drug you get is done by a doctor who is responsible for prescribing the medicine and not by the patient, however a man who asks for Viagra as opposed to the Cialis or Levitra is likely to get what he wants.

These commercials are said to have boosted the revenue of all three impotence drugs and they continue to be shown on TV in America. However it seems that some people have had enough and don’t want to see impotence commercials all day and especially when they are watching TV with young children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a statement saying that they believe that these adverts are giving out a bad message about sex to young children and teenagers and that they are giving them the idea that sexual activity is just a fun sport and not something that should be taken seriously and that can have long term consequences if not exercised properly. The pediatricians think that since the adverts are really aimed at older men who need help maintaining erections the impotence adverts should not be shown at times when children will watch them but only at specific times when only older people are likely to watching say after 10pm at night. At present the television adverts are being 24 hours a day.

The big drug companies that make these erectile dysfunction drugs spent around 300million dollars advertising their drugs in America in 2004 and so they have a lot of influence with the news and TV networks who will not be keen to lose their advertising revenue, but the pressure is mounting from concerned parents and doctors that could mean that in the near future these adverts will be restricted.