Good news for Bob Dole and his paycheck-providing Viagra: the Food and Drug Administration has ordered Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline PLC to pull an ad for their impotence drug Levitra from the TV tube. The grounds: unsubstantiated claims:
The FDA issued letters to the drug makers this week, saying a commercial for Levitra, called “My Man” made unsubstantiated claims of superiority over their competitors products, such as Viagra.
The story does not say whether Libby Dole was involved in the complaint. But we digress:
The letter also said Bayer failed to disclose potential side effects and product information.The 15 second commercial in question features a woman praising the erectile dysfunction drug by implying Levitra is the best drug for impotence. According to the FDA, making a claim that implies a satisfying sexual experience resulted from her partner’s use of a drug represents an “unprovable claim.”
The Washington Post notes this:
Levitra is the second impotence drug to have one of its television ads pulled. In November, the FDA told Pfizer Inc. to discontinue a Viagra ad that referred to the actor as “wild thing,” saying the company did not state that the drug is for men and failed to mention potential side effects. During the commercial, a browbeaten actor grows blue horns the same color as the pill and appears to become more sexually interested in his female partner.
Was that Bob Dole?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.