The Scoop: How far will ads get up guts to go?
I’m not stretching too far into la-la land when I make the blanket statement that TV is a major part of American lives.
Some of us turn on the TV as soon as we roll out of bed. Others don’t even bother turning the TV off when going to sleep. Some folks have a TV for every room in the house. To borrow a phrase from the National Rifle Association, America’s new slogan should be, “You can pry our TV remote from our cold, dead hands.”
TV has infiltrated virtually every aspect of our lives, and like it or not, TV commercials are there every step of the way. It’s why some people (however wacky this may sound) say they watch the Super Bowl just to see the commercials.
It’s also why it catches my attention when the content of commercials begins to gravitate toward the gutter. TV shows have begun to finally come under fire for their language, violence and sexual situations. It’s time for commercials to be put to the same test.
I bring this up now because I’ve seen just about as many commercials for sexual enhancement drugs as I care to see. And since this is a family column, by sexual enhancement drugs I mean prescription medication created with the bedroom in mind.
Ads for pills like Viagra are nothing new. In fact it was Bob Dole who, looking as sad as possible, first introduced us to this brand of advertising in 1999. Since then, the market for sexual enhancement drugs has become as crowded as a New York subway as pharmaceutical companies try to grab a piece of what’s become an almost $3 billion pie.
What that means is when I turn on my TV, I’m now treated to a middle-aged couple snuggling to soft music and an announcer that says, “If this relaxing moment turns into the right moment, will you be ready?”
The latest Levitra TV ad addresses the situation in explicit detail with a sultry brunette bluntly saying Levitra improves the quality of sexual encounters. And she uses terminology I don’t want to pass along in this column.
A Levitra spokesman describes the ad as “flirtatious and direct.” He also said some networks may decide not to air the commercial until after 9 p.m. because of its content.
I enjoy a pretty face as much as the next guy, but what I want to know is when did we become a nation completely driven by sex? It’s thrown in our face around every corner.
It won’t be long before commercials come with a disclaimer, “This ad may not be suitable for all viewers.” The Federal Communications Commission just passed such rules pertaining to e-mail in what will amount to a fruitless effort to keep sex and porn ads away from the eyes of juveniles.
What I’d really like is for the FCC to enact rules to keep the prescription drug companies away from me. Yesterday I received 59 e-mails from such companies, with 54 of those e-mails pertaining to sexual enhancement drugs.
If I listen to the constant barrage of e-mails I receive, I could earn a college diploma without ever taking a class and save hundreds on my car insurance.
I could also add “valuable inches” to a certain part of my anatomy thanks to an amazing scientific breakthrough and have my wife love me like never before.
This amounts to nothing more than smut I don’t care to read and didn’t ask to see. I’ve heard folks argue that such trashy material should not be regulated because looking at it is freedom of choice.
But how much freedom do you have when it hits you in the face every time you flip on the TV or check your e-mail?
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].