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IT is now at the center of prevalent product pitches aimed at
men who want more
By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 7, 2004
This is a story about – let's call it, "it." About how, of late, there's no escaping the barrage of new products and promotions centering on improving, well, "it."
Pharmaceutical companies are at war, bragging about how they can make "it" work when needed. And make "it" last longer. Some in the medical field even maintain they can magically make "it" bigger.
Watch an NFL football game: The number of commercials regarding drugs to help "it" rivals the spots for beer, shaving cream and half-ton pickups.
Just what is up with "it"?
First came Viagra, which,
at the outset, appeared to be targeted primarily to elderly men
with erectile
dysfunction problems. Bob Dole, then in his mid-70s and a prostate
cancer survivor, championed its results.
The drug seemed as homey as Metamucil.
But that's changed. Now Viagra and its competitors are being prescribed to a growing number of younger men, and controversy is running step-in-step with their rising popularity and booming sales.
A recent study revealed that Viagra use among men ages 18-45 increased a whopping 312 percent between 1998, when the drug was introduced, and 2002.
Last year, Viagra sales reached $1.9 billion. It has now been taken by an estimated 23 million men worldwide.
That's a lot of little blue pills. Some argue it's too many and that the phenomenon is the result of aggressive marketing and pressure on men to be top-notch everywhere – from the boardroom to the bedroom.
Average middle-aged men who don't have true erectile problems are taking the drugs to see if they can perform better sexually. Younger men are using them to expand the frequency and quality of their sexual romps.
Even adolescents are reported to be taking the drugs, which, of course, seems like overkill. Some pop them in combination with illegal party drugs, such as Ecstasy.
And that's not all concerning "it."
There's been a rapid increase in advertising, particularly over the Internet, for pills, pumps and potions claiming to make the male organ larger. Men can take an even bolder move and have surgery to make "it" seem longer.
Advertisements that were once seen in the back pages of Penthouse now can be found in newspapers' sports sections, near Peyton Man ning's passing statistics.
What was once taboo has moved into the mainstream.
What's changed is the openness of the discussion regarding male sexuality. And how some forces – particularly drug companies and their advertising partners – have made the solution to impotence seem as simple and fast-acting as the cures offered for heartburn.
"There's been an effort to break the association of this (impotence) as a sign of weakness," said Aaron Rochlen, a clinical psychologist from Austin, Texas, who specializes in men's issues.
"It used to be very embarrassing. Now, they make men feel OK about it. There's macho Mike Ditka talking about it."
Viagra was an accident. The drug was first tested in the 1980s by the
drug giant Pfizer Inc. to treat
high blood pressure and then angina.
But a side effect was noticed in one test group. The drug stimulated blood flow to "it," and men started getting erections.
Pfizer began new tests to see if the drug could work against impotence. It did. And it did quite well, thank you. Test subjects were bummed when told the drug trials were over. They wanted more.
For the first time, here was something that, for many, worked magic when it came to battling impotence. Before, men suffering from erectile dysfunction – which can be caused by a number of physical problems, including diabetes – had to resort to surgery to heighten blood flow. Or they had implants. Or they suffered in silence. New drugs lessen demand for harvested animal parts
The commercial intensity and new product development concerning "it" isn't a passing trend. Men's feelings about "it" have been pretty much consistent - even when going way, way back.
According to the book, "A Mind of Its Own" by David Friedman, Roman generals sometimes promoted soldiers based on the size of "it." And through the years, men have sought unconventional ways to boost "it," consuming everything from rhino horn dust to frog saliva.
One side benefit of the new drugs that battle impotence is that they may have helped slow the killing of animals whose parts were harvested for cures regarding "it."
So far, while cautioning that evidence is scant, several researches have said the black market demand for old-world cures seems to have slowed.
Men were told that the problem was in their heads, that there wasn't a physical connection.
Some marriages faltered or failed.
But almost immediately after Viagra hit the market, healthy men also starting asking their doctors for the drug. Critics say Pfizer – which denies the charge – encouraged them by changing its marketing strategy to tap a wider and younger demographic. Athletes became pitch-men. Sporting events were targeted for commercial play.
Two other drugs that battle impotency – Levitra and Cialis –
hit the market last year. Levitra works very similarly to Viagra,
while Cialis, sold by Eli Lilly
& Co. and ICOS Corp., has a unique selling point. It lasts for
36 hours – nine times longer than Viagra or Levitra.
Through advertising, the drug giants have made their products household names, as well-known as Nyquil. Pfizer reportedly spends about $100 million annually to hype Viagra, which still controls about 75 percent of sales.
During the recent World Series, it was hard to miss the pitch for Viagra. An advertisement for the drug was behind home plate.
The newer commercials for the three drugs hardly mention erectile dysfunction. And that's no accident, say critics, who believe drug makers are slyly marketing the products as a way for men to enhance their sexual performances, not just to battle impotence.
A television commercial for Levitra,
made by Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline, sports a woman smiling seductively
and saying, "My man takes Levitra." And she doesn't look
like anybody's grandmother. She's young and sexy.
Viagra recently launched a new campaign that features a youngish man, looking at lingerie, who is stirred by memories of his alter-ego, "Wild Thing."
Some see a silver lining in the deluge.
"I do think that the availability of these drugs and the aggressive advertising campaign is bringing in many men with ED (erectile dysfunction) who otherwise would not have been seen," said Cmdr. Christopher L. Amling, chairman and program director of the Department of Urology at the Naval Medical Center, San Diego.
Even younger sailors and Marines – quintessential macho dudes – are asking about such drugs. The trend is similar to the one being seen in the civilian male population, he said.
Others aren't so sure about the happy marriage between Madison Avenue and the drug companies. The marketing trend is disturbing, contends Meika Loe, author of the book "The Rise of Viagra," because it entices a wider demographic to try the drugs.
"The public face of Viagra or ED has changed dramatically since 1998," said Loe, an assistant professor of sociology and women's studies at Colgate University. "Pfizer has moved from emphasis on sexual dysfunction linked to medical conditions, to emphasis on performance on and off the field."
The growing popularity of such drugs isn't limited to men in the United States.
Sales of Viagra and its competitors doubled in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, according to a United Press International report.
Bombs and bullets and tanks and explosions are causing tension and depression and problems in the bedroom. The pill is helping people there make love, not war.
Women are not alone in feeling insecure about their bodies.
Men do, too.
But while men may worry about their hairlines and the softening of their abs, those concerns pale in comparison to "it" and how well "it" functions.
Pretty much all men – straight or gay, young or old, black or white, Catholic or Muslim, NASCAR fan or bird watcher, Democrat or Republican – want to knock the socks off their sexual partner(s).
They want to be manly.
But Superman?
Even he had to be Clark Kent now and again.
But many men are fearful of being mere mortal, and that has some experts worrying about how the drugs are being used. A backlash is beginning to jell. Too much is beginning to be expected of "it."
"Males often feel inadequate, and the drug companies have jumped on that weakness," said Vern Bullough, a medical historian who has taught at a number of universities, including the University of Southern California.
Bullough doubts that most middle-aged men truly need such a drug. While men may see a drop in the strength of their erections as they age, severe impotence isn't common, he said.
But because the drugs are so widely available and advertised, men now are under pressure to perform without fail, Bullough said.
While Viagra and other drugs do work wonders, they have limits, Bullough said. Men could have underlying psychological problems regarding sexual performance that aren't being addressed. And Viagra doesn't work for everyone who is impotent. "It's not a cure-all," Bullough said.
Bullough and others take the drug companies to task. It's because of money, they charge.
"Everybody's jumping on the bandwagon," Bullough said, of drug companies pushing such products. Noting Viagra's success, he said: "If you were a drug company, wouldn't you make one, too?"
Drug companies defend their practices.
Viagra has always been marketed to the same consumer – men who suffer from erectile dysfunction, said Daniel Watts, Pfizer's spokesman.
There was no "master plan" to begin marketing the product to older men and then go younger, he said. Erectile dysfunction can hit men as young as 30 and varies in severity, he said. That market has always been present and known to the drug company.
It's not as if younger men are taking Viagra in droves, he added. Men in their 50s are still, by far, the biggest consumers. Viagra's popularity is expanding simply because "we've been effective in getting our message out," Watts said.
Anti-impotency drugs are far from the only products being pushed aggressively to men concerning "it" of late. Anyone who has an e-mail account – even women – has been hit with advertisements for stuff that supposedly does wonders with size and girth.
Experts say beware. Results are negligible, if that, and some of the enlargement efforts have ended in tragedy.
A 45-year-old San Diego man who traveled regularly to Tijuana for silicone injections into his penis died in 2002 when the silicone leaked into his lungs, according to the autopsy report from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office.
Even Viagra and the other new drugs need to be taken with caution if patients have certain health problems, such as heart conditions, or are taking other medications.
For many, however, they do work as claimed. While that's a blessing for those suffering from severe impotence, there are concerns that the drugs aren't really improving the sex lives of healthy men who are enticed by the sexy commercials.
Masculinity is being reduced to sexual performance, said Loe, who spent five years researching her book on Viagra.
"Sex becomes 'McDonaldized' – serve it up fast and hot," said Loe, a graduate of UC San Diego. The pills counter what is a natural part of the aging process. Instead of adjusting to the change, men are able to go full throttle against it.
There are anecdotal reports that Viagra is actually hurting, not helping some marriages. Women have complained that men, now empowered, have strayed or become more aggressive in seeking sex.
Pfizer spokesman Watts said critics are making huge leaps regarding the social implications of Viagra. Via
gra is what it is, he said – a drug to help men battle impotence.
"This has been a savior to many men who believed that their sexual lives were over. . . . We never said it's a panacea for a bad relationship."
But what of blossoming relationships?
Carol Rinkleib Ellison, a marriage and family therapist, has a longer-term fear about these drugs: They may further deteriorate the romantic spell partners need to feel to be intimate.
In the past, people didn't rush into sexual encounters as they do today. There was more petting and kissing and physical closeness that didn't necessarily include intercourse.
"Couples spent longer time in courtship, and they learned basic steps," she said. "Young people may have not learned these basic steps."
Viagra and the other drugs help fulfill changing expectations that people have today of sex – that it's performed at will and at maximum intensity. It's all about intercourse and achieving climax.
Sex doesn't have to be so black-and-white, Ellison said. Using pills makes people unaware that other forms of sexual intimacy – not just those revolving around "it" – can be tapped.
source :-http://www.signonsandiego.com
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