ANYONE watching Viagra’s old-school TV commercials on mute would be hard pressed to guess that they’re peddling erectile dysfunction drugs. Featuring cheerful salt-and-pepper actors with a penchant for rugged but chaste manly-man past times (i.e. fly fishing and wood chopping), the ads were so vague and generic that they might have just as easily been for Brawny paper towels. However, America’s favorite sexual enhancement pill (sorry Cialis!) has recently revised its marketing campaign and the rebranding is forthright, frank and feminist — well, sort of. Whereas the women of Viagra’s previous ads were relegated to the kitchen or passenger seat, making cameos only to smile serenely and maybe offer a shoulder squeeze to her boner-challenged boo if she was feeling bold, in the new ads ladies take center stage. Watching the ads on mute now (OK, maybe we should retire this hypothetical because the idea of watching Viagra ads on mute is actually really creepy) would tell a vastly different tale. One that features a woman sprawled, although fully clothed, in bed and directly addressing male viewers. There’s nary a fishing pole to be seen. She is friendly and conversational, leaning forward conspiratorially to say,
“So guys, it’s just you and your honey. The setting is perfect. But then erectile dysfunction happens again… Plenty of guys have this issue — not just getting an erection, but keeping it.”
Her cutesy lingo, sympathetic reference to “plenty of guys” and notable usage of the word ‘erection’ as opposed to the usual, subtle industry term ‘ED’ coupled with the undeniable fact that she’s an attractive woman in bed, creates a more direct, sexy approach than the Viagra outdoorsmen of old. This inclusion of a demographic that suffers equally — if indERECTly LOLZ — from ED is novel in that it invites women into a dialogue about an issue that has a significant impact on their sex lives. It takes them out of the archaic role of kitchen-dweller and thrusts (hehe) them into the spotlight of sexual participation and pleasure where they belong. If I have one complaint — and I don’t, I have several. For starters, where are the ads featuring two dudes chopping wood together? Does being gay make you immune to erectile dysfunction? But it’s too early and I’m not yet caffeinated enough to tackle the huge issue of heteronormativity in advertising, so let’s reign it back it in — it’s that the woman in the new ads is not only (of course) white, blond, thin, and immaculately coiffed, but also looks all of thirty.
Which is fine, I mean. May-December romances are totally a thing. But so are partnerships in which both people are equally wrinkled, equally greying, and equally horny. I’m not asking for ads set in nursing homes, but imagine how refreshing it would be to have a spokeswoman who was just as friendly, just as flirty, but also didn’t look young enough to be the target audience’s daughter. Today’s feminism focuses heavily on sex positivity — which, in a world where ‘slut’ is still a slur and ‘What were you wearing?’ is still a question that survivors of rape have to answer, is tremendously important. I’ll support and defend the movement with every fiber of my mini skirt-sporting being, but that doesn’t mean it’s infallible and there’s no room for improvement. I would love to see women of all ages welcomed into the folds of female sex positivity. 20-year-olds and 30-somethings might be most affected by reproductive rights, but we don’t corner the market on sex. I would like to see an increase in inclusion of our senior sisters who were screwing while we were still eggs and tadpoles. I would like to see a naked old lady as a nuanced, sexual character, not a punch line in Hollywood blockbusters and prime-time programming. I would like to see an end to “age-defying” being equated with “beautiful” and — although I commend the progress they’re making — dammit, I would like to see a Viagra ad where the woman on the bed is as 60+ as she is DTF. Which is hot.
