Cialis Dares to Be Different

"We think that our advertising speaks to women even though they are not targeted directly at women," said Blum, the Cialis marketing executive. "Our ads talk about the right moment. We think the qualities of Cialis appeal to the partner as well as the man with erectile dysfunction. Our ads never show a man by himself or a woman by herself." He said there are no plans for hiring a spokesman for Cialis.

Mike Ditka, the spokesman for Levitra, probably won't appeal to many women, but that's OK for GlaxoSmithKline and its partner Bayer.

"Our challenge is not against the competition but to reach out to men about treatment," said Michael Fleming, director of U.S. pharmaceutical product communications at GlaxoSmithKline. "Our ads have hit the mark; we've had positive feedback."

Levitra has had a TV commercial with a woman -- the one with a man throwing a football through a swinging tire roped to a tree -- and Fleming said his company will consider more descriptive TV ads. But when launching Levitra, his company wanted TV ads that "were appropriate and tasteful because they were being shown during the family hour."

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints