ED: Ethical Dysfunction and Advertising on NFL Telecasts

I was looking closely at a bottle of pills in the kitchen one day last year when my then 10 year-old son asked me what I was doing. I said I was just reading the label on a bottle, and my son responded by asking me if one of the side effects was an erection lasting more than four hours. Since the pills were a daily vitamin supplement, the answer was, in fact, no. I looked at my son - it was clear he was joking, and I'm glad he has a sense of humor. But why the hell were we even having this conversation?

I thought about that moment again on Sunday as the two of us sat on the couch watching the Redskins-Giants game for a few lazy hours. It's nice - father and son taking a break from grim headlines, from pressures at school and work, from rushing around in general. Except that my son and I couldn't get away from those damn ads for Cialis. And, no, muting the sound doesn't help - key phrases are right up there on the screen. Believe me, I'm not a bit prudish nor do I believe that I can shelter my kids from all the casual sex and violence that bombards them, but shouldn't a mid-afternoon football game be off-limits for erectile dysfunction ads? Of course not. Not when pharmaceutical companies spent $5 billion dollars on direct-to-consumer advertising in 2006. And not when DTC advertising so clearly works. A 2003 study found that "for every 10 percent increase in DTC advertising, drug sales within the classes studied increased on average by 1%." In an article last month, the New England Journal of Medicine noted the effectiveness of DTC drug ads. One of its sources was a General Accounting Office study, which showed that for every $1 spent on DTC advertising, a drug's sales went up a median of $2.20.

The NFL is trying to "protect its brand" with some post-Michael Vick warm and fuzzy ads showing what good guys pro football players really are. In the meantime, the league is raking in the dough from drug companies, apparently not giving a damn about the impact those endless ED ads might have on all the young football fans watching their heroes. Yes, the NFL rejected some ED ads in the past, but that was a short-lived and ultimately not very successful effort to get the ads to be less suggestive about sexual performance. Regulation is an unlikely solution given congressional concerns about First Amendment issues and, of course, the influence of pharmaceutical industry lobbying.

If the NFL really wants to buff up its image, it should consider what impact ED advertising is having on its youngest fans. I asked Dr. Lance Clawson, a prominent Washington, DC-area child and adolescent psychiatrist about this. Dr. Clawson prefaced his comments by saying that while he generally is a supporter of the pharmaceutical industry, he has "reservations" about the direct marketing of drugs to consumers:

I think there are several issues that arise with direct marketing to consumers.

1. It intrudes on families/children, often bringing up issues of sexual function or mental illness that parents aren't prepared to address or do not want to address with their children. Is this an "injury" of sorts? Not necessarily, but it does thrust some delicate topics right into the laps of younger kids who may not be intellectually or emotionally ready to address the issues brought up in the direct marketing campaign.

2. I do feel that the direct market sends a message that all problems, particularly sexual and mental health are cured by a pill. Although medications help quite a bit, and I prescribe them for these problems on a daily basis, I feel that in America we've bought into the fact that pills will take care of any personal problem, and the individual doesn't have to eat right, get enough exercise, sleep enough, limit alcohol and tobacco, do the hard work of relating on a deeper level with their loved ones, or seek psychotherapy, etc.... i.e. it implies that life can be fixed without hard work, and this just isn't so.. Our kids keep getting the message (from the media in general) that they have to be the best, brightest, most virile, richest, etc. and just get there magically (The Paris Hilton effect)... and the direct marketing seems to imply... take this pill and you just may be the thinnest, happiest, most virile, etc. person.. (without any hard work).

I think Dr. Clawson has it right. As the ad says, I'd like to "choose when the moment is right" for my children to learn about such things. And I'm far less concerned about them witnessing Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" than I am about them learning of the dangers of four-hour erections.

Comments

[mommadona]

YES, YES, YES....

Here's the question to demand an answer to:

SINCE DRUG COSTS IN AMERICA KEEP RISING, WHY ARE THESE COMPANIES SPENDING MILLIONS ON ADVERTISING?

DUH...

AND the damn "RUBon...applied DIRECTLY to the FOREhead", AND the menopause, AND the "gummy denture adhesive" AND the diabetes "control"

STOP IT ALL.

[sdskelton03]

I convinced that when future societies study ours they will be convinced that men in our time were a bunch of alcoholic (bud light ads) overweight buffoons (Homer Simpson, Still Standing, According to Jim ect..) with erectile dysfunction.

[commonsenselives]

I would assume that because most people that watch football are men, big pharma can't afford to NOT advertise.

It all comes down to money and big pharma isn't going to ignore its demographic just for the sake of parents.

That would just be silly and not profitable.

[itolduso]

Direct-to-Consumer ads for drugs that are only available by prescription are the most vile, misleading, and dangerous threat to the health of Americans today. Prescription drugs are NOT a'lifestyle choice' to be promoted and sold to consumers like a car or hairstyle product- in 60 second soundbites designed to ignite a frenzy for the 'newest', 'fastest' or 'flashiest' brand. Marketing agencies are very, very good at convincing us that we 'just have to have' all sorts of things that we really don't need at all-and that's just fine when it comes to fashions, and housewares and the latest toys-they just make us poorer. But it should have no place in substances whose use should only be prescribed by well-trained physicians that must carefully weigh the benefits vs. the harm and longterm effects of it's impact on our bodies. Who understand that the more 'powerful painreliever' may cause the bloodpressure to spike (leading to a need for bloodpressure medication) and the latest bloodpressure pill may lead to erectile dysfunction (leading to a need for an E.D. pill) That's the kind of information they leave out of those 60 second soundbites, and why those ads should be stopped now.

[realitytrumpsbull]

But, but, wait, don't you need male enhancement to go with your new SUV to go with your new Countrywide usury arrangement to go with your
bag of Doritos? Why, you're just not being a
good American Consumer, downright unpatriotic!
Drink that beer, dammit! Kids are starving
in China! LOL

[cindyw]

It's okay for kids to learn about erectile dysfunction while watching football, but God protect them from Janet Jackson's nipple. What's wrong with us?

[larry278]

Relax, tampons, birth control pills, sanitary pads, douches are advertised on daytime TV too.

[AlwaysAmused]

Exactly. WHy should we ban ED ads that talk about "erections asting for more than 4 hours" but not ads that talk about "not so fresh feelling"?

If you son had asked, "dad do you ever get that no so fresh feeling" would you be havinf a tizzy fit then too?

[mommadona]

Did anyone say they WANTED to see those "extra absorbent for those 'heavy days'" ??????

Ban it all.
No need to advertise necessities.

Discuss amongst yerselves....what IS a necessity?

[thicky]

But what better place for an ED ad than a football game?

Your team is losing. They are impotently trying to stop your opponent from scoring. Your team is impotent . . . and you are feeling impotent . . . hey, how about an impotence drug to make you potent again!

Also missing from the ads is the fact that viagra and similar drugs were developed from what was initially an incredibly powerful and mind-altering anti-depression drug(more reality altering than LSD). Men are given what they think is an ED drug but they are also getting an anti-depressant.

Keep America drugged and docile.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Wouldn't it be really cool if we quit spending tens of billions of dollars annually on watching
men in tights chase a little brown ball and
get paid insane amounts of money for reinforcing
Madison Avenue's sales pitches, and
instead put that kind of coin into setting up
a permanent lunar facility, or teaching the kids in poor neighborhoods how to read,
or reforming colleges into places that weren't
just jobs programs in and of themselves but
rather places where you might learn something
for your money? Ah, to dream...of something
NOT brought to you by the Silver Bullet...

[AlwaysAmused]

I dont think that taking away peoples abillity to freely choose how they spend their own time, and money, whether for entertainment or any other purpose (within reason) could even be charitibly described as "cool"

But then i dont think Im smart enough to make everyones choices for them either.

[mrcontinental]

No one is interested in advancing civilization.

Besides society has been regressing for the pass 7 years and will continue to do so.

And even as Rome was collapsing sporting events were used to distract the population from the many problems that they faced in their mundane lives. Sports now is no different.

[AlwaysAmused]

Society has been regressing?
Really?
In what ways, please cite measurable and verifiable facts.
People have been saying that civilisation has been "regressing" sincer the time of rome, in fact I beleive it was plato or aristoltle who said soemthign tot he effect of "children are more disrespectful, politicians are more coorrupt, the rich are taken more advantage of the poor and in evey other waythe sings that the world will soon end are becomming ever clearer"
of course that was around 2,000 years ago but I cant think of a single generation who hasn't expressed the exact same thought.