New Marketing Strategy: Viagra Ad Features Woman

On Tuesday, Viagra released their newest 60-second commercial. The new marketing campaign has stirred up quite a bit of attention as it features a woman addressing the issue of erectile dysfunction (ED) for the first time, encouraging men to seek advice from their doctors. Although many articles are addressing this change in tone and medium as a strategical move to widen the scope of its audience and boost sales, the underlying message that the commercial is sending is important. This commercial is groundbreaking and unique in that it takes on the issue of ED while highlighting its effect on women.

Sex-positive feminists would celebrate the fact that this ad suggests that sexual pleasure is equally as important for men and women. ED does not only result in embarrassment and a less fulfilling experience for men, but also dissatisfaction for women. In Julie Richters' article "Orgasm," she writes that "more sexually liberated cultures assume that women take at least as much pleasure in sex as men" (Siedman et al, 2011: 101). This highlights the sexual freedom encourage by sex-positive feminism. Featuring a woman in the commercial suggests that sexual pleasure and satisfaction for women is a topic that should be on the table, even in the discussion of a male-centered issue. However, the content of the commercial is still directed towards men; the woman speaks encouraging words that reassures her male audience that they are not alone, and that the problem can be easily solved with the purchase of the product.

Despite the sex-positive message the commercial is sending, we must not lose sight of how sexuality is being exploited in Viagra's latest endeavour. Although sexually charged images of women have become the norm in advertising and media, it is important to note that the commercialization and commodification of sex is a result of the sexual revolution. It this ad, a woman is pictured on the beach, at first lounging, then strolling around what appears to be a beach resort with her dress and her hair blowing in the wind. The fact that she is Caucasian, (implicitly) heterosexual and conventionally beautiful cannot be ignored; she fulfills the criteria for what is deemed to be "normal" or "acceptable" sexuality. In attempting to normalize ED and encouraging men to accept the situation and seek help, they are reinforcing the traditional scripts that we have come to understand. We may picture the partner of this woman to also be conventionally good-looking, happy, healthy and stable, generating an image for men that offers that successful and "normal" individuals can experience ED.