Marketing with machismo
» Sports
Pharmaceutical companies are using sports figures to promote medications that combat erectile dysfunction. If a hockey coach or football player can take little blue pills then there's so shame in the average TV watcher doing likewise I guess. Hard to believe that Viagra, Levitra and the like need much advertising but I imagine GlaxoSmithKline know more than I do about selling anti-impotence drugs.
... Pfizer has used Mr. Lafleur and Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, 39, to spread the word on Viagra -- a drug neither one uses, they say.
Levitra has gone the managerial route, with Mr. Bowman and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka as spokesmen. The manufacturer also has a three-year deal with the National Football League, giving it exclusive sponsorship rights in the category of men's health. That is a window on a market of 100 million male TV viewers a week.