The New Viagra Commercial Is Disturbing
The new commercial from Viagra is … There are so many words to choose from that would perfectly fit the description: irritating, embarrassing, awkward, and disturbing.
There I was, watching some post-season Major League Baseball, all alone, in my basement (okay, man-cave) doing my homework when this tall blonde British woman starts looking me in the eye and telling me how I should consider consuming pills that help me get… okay you get it. It’s a commercial for Viagra and it’s among the most uncomfortable of all the commercials I’ve endured in 28 years of life on earth. It didn’t just show once. It showed at every single commercial break. I literally paused the game for 20 minutes just so I could skip the commercials, all of them.
During our country’s “national pastime” no less. I just happened to be alone but could have been watching the Royals kick some butt with my wife and kids. I thought it was bad two years ago when Beyonce attempted to seduce me on stage at the Super Bowl. I wrote about that as well. As if that wasn’t awkward enough with my wife sitting next to me. That 14 minute show of Beyonce was nearly trumped by this slowly dramatized plea.
The imagery is smart: a tall, gorgeous, sexy speaking blonde looking me right in the eye, softly telling me ‘You need to be “ready”. And you can be if you just swallow these pills.’
It’s a commercial, but just imagine she was a street vendor and I’m at the baseball game, live, with my family. Imagine after the third out and the players change for the inning, this woman gets on home plate with a microphone and says, “Men, that woman sitting next to you, your hunny, you disappoint her when you can’t get an erection. I’m here to help. See me at the Viagra stand and you and I can chat about how to solve this relationship-plague.” That’d be going way to far, right? What makes the woman on the television acceptable and a woman in real life saying these things unacceptable?
The commercial goes something like, “Guys, it’s just you and your honey, the setting it perfect.” What the commercial is really saying is, “It’s just you, your hunny, and me, he’s thinking of me.” The commercial is a hardly subtle change from the normal “ED” ads featuring couples flirting, to a lone woman on a beach and then in a bed, girlishly shrugging her shoulders and bouncing her eyebrows while using the word “erection.”
This isn’t even the low part. Sex sells, we know that, but this company is the first to pair sex with something else: guilt. They do this intentionally and it’s actually targeting both men and women, using mutual interests against the other’s conscience. The commercial is essentially saying ‘your woman is disappointed that you can’t get or keep an erection, and you need this to make her happy.’ And to women, it’s saying, ‘look, you deserve this, buy these pills and have a better life.’
It’s getting harder and harder to justify watching TV. I’ve never been a real junky for shows, but I have been a sports fan for a long time and it’s getting more difficult to endure this sort of thing. It should go without saying, but I’m glad my boys weren’t up to watch this with me. They’re so young, but I can’t even imagine what it’s like to raise a 10-year-old, or a 13-year-old and have that happen.
This commercial goes far too far and it should be removed.
About The Author
Shaun McAfee
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20 Comments
I listen to radio much more than I watch TV, but I’ve noticed that I completely tune out about 84% of commercials, I notice and like about 1%, and I notice and hate 15%. The ones I like are usually either funny or have potentially funny uses. (For instance, there was a commercial for Rust Tough back in the ’90’s that had Mike Ditka ask, “Do you want TOUGH, or do you want ‘oleum’?” I still think that would make a fun campaign slogan.) Anyway, many of these hate-worthy commercials seem to come from the evil bearded-Spock universe. Noteworthy among these is a Lexus commercial from about 10 years ago that compared the cost of a Lexus favorably with the cost of rearing a child, leading me to wonder just what sort of person could be comforted on his deathbed by having his Lexus present.
Absolutely on target Shaun. As I look back over my seven plus decades I never imagined we would ever get to advertising self serving sex in everyone’s living room but here it is. It is nothing less than a society that no longer recognizes Evil much less sin and perversion. Satan has used the most basic instincts of man to tempt and tantalize us to the point that sex, sex, and more sex is just another pleasure which all are entitled to like gorging ourselves with food and drink. It is nothing new though as history as proven. Now we must reap what we have sown and pay the great price due us as a nation. History also reveals those who have participated in and promoted more and more of the seeding of sin and perversion will be the first to cry for mercy from the God who in freedom gave them choices between his will and theirs.
so glad you people are dying off
News Flash, The Truth will never die.
So sorry you are still among those who can’t handle it!
This kind of thing makes me want to buy 100 shares of Pfizer stock (yeah, as if I have that kind of money to throw around, but still) so I can show up to complain at their annual meeting.
As a woman, (yes, I am, I checked) I can say that the commercial of which you speak would totally put me out of the picture. My take on it was the woman speaking is saying “Aren’t I your dream woman? Maybe you wouldn’t even need a pill if I were really there…”
Yep … the commercial is definitely what I refer to as “barf-worthy.” It is sickening. I hate the blonde woman and, more recently, the brunette woman also. I have the inclination to want to scratch their eyes out. It’s a fantasy that makes me feel warm and fuzzy (lol). And, just for the record: I hate the drug companies …… d*mn drug pushers.
Lynn — you must of looked in the mirror if you barfed.
Oh, really … it wasn’t a mirror … it must have been a picture of your ego. lol
“It’s getting harder and harder to justify watching TV.” Amen. I like sports, too, just not nearly as much as I used to. I find them much more palatable with the sound off and a book in my hands.
Could not agree more with the sentiments Shaun expressed. While I believe adults should have access to all sorts of information and it should be readily available, this type of DTC Rx advertising is over the top. I don’t want to see these commercials when I’m having dinner or watching a sporting event with my nieces and nephews (even though they are parents). While I don’t object to the product, I do object to the blatant lurid overtones and I’m not exactly a prude–wild child of the 60’s-70’s Nam vet; however, I do believe in and support a modicum of civility in the public square. And, sports programs or evening newscasts are not the proper public square. My long-time companion says; guys will believe anything dealing with that “topic”.
Not nearly as obscene as an ex Presidential Candidate – Bob Dole selling Viagra. Yes, it really happened you didn’t dream it.
This ad pisses me off! NO woman gets access to discuss this with my man. GRRRRRRRRRR! TOTALLY inappropriate!Step off, _____.
As a woman, I’m deeply outraged by this commercial. The message is, “yeah, if you only had gorgeous blonde British me, you wouldn’t need Viagra, but since you can’t have me, buy Viagra and think of me when you want to ‘be ready’ with your ‘hunny.’” The really disgusting thing is, we consumers of TV don’t get to choose whether to get rid of an offensive commercial. Only the free market decides.
Is it just me, or is she trying a bit too hard to look sexy? I just can’t stand watching this woman. Give it a rest, girly girl.
I have been disturbed by the same commercial. Not only does it take away from the dignity of both the woman (and by extension all women) representing the “product,” which in fact is a prescribed medication not a toy, but also of the men watching by assuming we are all (and some of us are sadly) taken in by such tactics.
One other point though–imagine reversing the commercial for one moment. A scantily clad man appears and seductively attempts to sell the Pill to the largely female audience (perhaps on Lifetime or another such TV channel) so that he can have his cake and eat it too. Everyone from NOW (National Organization for Women) to almost any rational woman out there would likely screamingly object, because it would be considered, and rightly so, utterly sexist and demeaning.
When I see that commercial I wonder why that does not go both ways? Yet it does not. The dignity of all, even the reputation of otherwise decent pharmaceutical companies who have helped millions with their drugs and research, including married men with this particular problem or issue, is equally at stake here. Using sex to sell a prescription meant to help a very real medical issue is low and ludicrous.
Some of you could use some professional help.The woman is a hottie and no pills would be needed.
I change the channel each time I’m assaulted by this commercial. I’m a single female, and so I view these commercials while alone, but I would be angered and embarrassed if I were sitting there with my over 50 male partner and had to endure this insulting invasion of privacy. Not only that, but it would be, as others have stated, a comparison of the sexy actress to the real life female partner, and pressure on the man viewing it to get his pill so he can be virile. All the while, the wife, who is comfortable with things as they are, occasional affection, has to anticipate performing more satisfactorily for pill-induced sex.
Viagra is so awesome! Don’t be afraid to try it. It will turn your weak erection into a power tool and she will notice. I take 25mg once every few weeks for a special date-night and my girlfriend turns into a beast.
You are right. The American one is much worse, it’s just so….weird & uncomfortable. Both are dressed in royal blue swimsuit coverups and both are in some sort of sunny beachy paradise island setting by themselves walking in slow motion. How cliche & embarrassing. And these ads air WAY too often, and on WAY too many channels, and they are disturbing and make me uncomfortable.
