A Hard Sell?

Pfizer is under fire for its Viagra marketing tactics, as the drug company seeks to, er, expand its base from men who cannot function without Viagra to those who may need a, er, little boost. (NNSFW: Gay.com link for you government employees.)

A new ad campaign asking pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to end its promotion of Viagra as a sexual-enhancement drug will launch in New York Wednesday and Los Angeles next week. The print campaign by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which will appear in The Village Voice and gay newspapers The New York Blade and L.A.'s Frontiers, also warns gay men of the danger of using Viagra with crystal meth.

"We call on Pfizer to exercise responsibility by discontinuing marketing to men with mild erectile dysfunction, and by initiating an educational campaign on the dangers of Viagra and meth targeting men who have sex with men," the ad copy reads. Headlined "Viagra/Meth Alert!" the ad also features an image of a doctor's prescription with the text "Viagra + Crystal Meth = Rx for HIV infection."

"Pfizer's direct-to-consumer marketing of Viagra as a drug to enhance sexual performance aimed at men who don't necessarily suffer from erectile dysfunction is irresponsible, especially in light of the drug's known use as part of a 'circuit party cocktail' that is fueling the spread of STDs and HIV," said Michael Weinstein, president of the L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said in a statement.

We rarely take anything stronger than Tylenol or Advil, even on the roughest of days. But we're more convinced now than ever that we live in The BaT Cave, as we were completely unaware there's such a thing as the "circuit party cocktail." We wish we had known about this last week.