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Sex doesn't sell every product

Sex sells, yet the racy ads that introduced erectile dysfunction drugs were more successful at raising public outrage than sales.

Levitra and Viagra now have new campaigns that forgo the provocative in favor of depicting erectile dysfunction as a medical condition, not simply a lifestyle concern. The commercials are a recognition of the prior approach's failure to expand the market, as well new guidelines adopted by the industry in January to address critics' concerns and improve ads' accuracy.

Viagra new ad, launched Monday, leads with a frisky couple, then a doctor surfaces to explain the drug's risk and benefits.

Levitra commercials, which have been airing since March, focus on how diabetes and high blood pressure can lead to erectile dysfunction.

The more clinical approach has won kudos from some experts although no one is sure whether that will translate to higher sales.

Roughly 30 million men over the age of 40 suffer from some kind of erectile dysfunction in the United States, leading many to believe the market for impotency pills would explode when Cialis and Levitra joined the category in 2003. That never happened, so now some analysts and doctors are wondering whether the market will grow or just sink into a three-way slugfest.

Last year, the U.S. market for the drugs was flat at $1.4 billion, according to IMS Health, a health care information company. Viagra's total sales slumped 2 percent last year to $1.6 billion after falling 11 percent in 2004. Sales of Levitra and Cialis, which is sold by Eli Lilly & Co. and ICOS Corp. rose but they were coming off a much lower base and grabbed market share from Viagra.

"I think the market is pretty well defined," said Barbara Ryan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Recognizing that not all men with erectile dysfunction want to have sex or have a willing partner, Viagra's maker Pfizer estimates the true market size at about 15 million men. One doctor puts the number at 10million men.

Last year, total spending on advertising for erectile dysfunction ads fell 41 percent to $241 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Much of the drop can be attributed to a lack of Viagra TV ads and only half a year of commercials for Levitra.

Regulators asked Pfizer to stop running its Viagra campaign in November of 2004 because it violated several regulations. Levitra TV ads ended in May 2005 so the approach could be retooled, said Nancy Leone, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which markets the drug along with Schering-Plough Corp.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/business/v-dp_morning/story/12131241p-12879750c.html