Viagra maker to halt ads campaign
An anti-AIDS group is urging Viagra manufacturer to halt a marketing campaign for Viagra which has become popular among gay and bisexual men who use methamphetamine, which has been associated with risky sexual behavior and HIV infection.The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation said promoting the drug’s recreational use increase the risk of acquiring HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, group members confirmed on Thursday.The group will run advertisements in publications in Southern California, New York, San Francisco and South Florida to push its call.“We call on Pfizer to exercise responsibility by discontinuing marketing to men with mild erectile dysfunction, and by initiating an educational campaign on the dangers of Viagra and meth targeting men who have sex with men,” said the Anti-AIDS ads.Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said Pfizer has one ad showing an attractive, smiling man holding a football with the tagline, “Be this Sunday’s MVP (most favorable player)”; and another with the line, “What are you waiting for?” as a heterosexual couple, after hearing their movie is sold out, smile at each other.“This is like saying, ‘Have a party. Have a good time. Use Viagra,’ ” Weinstein said.
“Such marketing could make Viagra sound like a party drug, and for a drug to be used when one wants to take risks,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, deputy health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Pfizer Inc., manufacturer of Viagra denied the claim, saying its advertising encourages recreational use of the drug, and said its advertising already states that Viagra does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.
“We’ve always been committed to the safe and appropriate use of Viagra,” said Shontelle Dodson, Pfizer’s senior medical director. “We always encourage men to see their physicians for the proper diagnosis.”
In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered Pfizer to stop running TV ads for Viagra that featured a middle-aged man looking at his wife, with an announcer saying: “Remember that guy who used to be called Wild Thing? He’s back.”
The FDA said the TV ads implied that Viagra promised “a return to a previous level of sexual desire and activity,” which the agency called an unsubstantiated claim.
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