Monday, May 04, 2009

Loss of Sexual Appetite Leads to All Things Unmasculine?

I caught these three new commercials for Viagra last night.

I am a little bit confused about their, and the ad agency's, philosophy of what it means and what it takes to be masculine.

1) Strolling. Lack of sexual appetite leads to exercising with your wife, outside. Sounds nice and health - NOT MASCULINE!! Take Viagra to fix that little that blip in your manhood. You wouldn't want your male friends to see you exercise. With your wife. Outside.

2) Antiquing. Lack of sexual appetite leads to sharing in your wife's interest in antiqu - NOT MASCULINE!! Take Viagra to fix that little that blip in your manhood. You wouldn't want your male friends to see you strolling flea markets and furniture shops. With your wife.

3) Sports (in French, English translation included): Lack of sexual appetite leads to watching too much sports -NOT MASC... Wait. What? This is the only one that offers any sort of new thinking on masculinity instead of focusing on tired ideas that mean don't like things that may be perceived as "feminine".

The latter commercial may redeem Viagra to a certain degree, the two former commercials have already done harm by pigeon-holeing men as jerks that shouldn't be involved in or even take notice of their partner's interests unless those are directly related to having sex.

While I may eat my words some day, Viagra's assertion that manhood and masculinity are directly related to sexual virility and performance has never sat well with me.

Thanks to AdPharm for posting the videos.

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