Ads for impotence drugs have aired alongside programs targeted towards children, reports the Wall Street Journal.

“In December alone, an ad for impotence drug Viagra aired at around 9 p.m. during “Prancer,” a G-rated movie about a young girl who nurses one of Santa’s reindeers back to health; another spot for rival medicine Levitra appeared during an afternoon showing of the comedy “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure;” and another for Cialis graced an early-evening presentation of the holiday classic “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Though we love the synergy of an erectile dysfunction ad and “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” some groups are left unsatisfied.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for the erectile-dysfunction commercials to be restricted to after 10 p.m. so that children wouldn’t view sex as “a recreational sport.”

Though pharmaceutical companies have agreed to restrict suggestive advertising to audiences that are 80% adult, “[they’re] not all sticking to this,” says David Kweskin, senior vice president of TNS, a marketing-research firm. “It’s tough to spend that kind of money without some slippage.”

Have you seen impotence ads alongside children’s programming? Tell us in the comments. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

New Impotence Ads Draw Fire — Just Like Old Ones [WSJ] (Subscription req’d)

(Photo: scottfeldstein)

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