Blue Pill Blues

iPod sales are booming. Home prices keep climbing.

But one sector of the economy has gone, uh, limp:

(from Business Week-not linked due to registration requirements-excerpt is within fair use)

Judging by the tons of TV and print ads that pitch erectile dysfunction drugs, you would think the big three — Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra — were selling as briskly as beer at a football game. After all, what could be more marketable than a pill that helps aging men perform better in bed?

It’s not working out that way. Despite gargantuan ad budgets, sales are trailing expectations for all three contenders. Viagra’s worldwide sales fell 11% last year….

The article goes on to blame the, uh, dropoff on too many free samples and lack of market penetrati… (never mind, let’s try again)….the fact that only 15% of men who “need” erectile dysfunction drugs have tried them.

I dunno. From here, it seems more likely that the ED problem is nowhere near what the pharmas want us to believe (the article claims that 30% of adult men suffer from ED–puh-leeze). And maybe, just maybe–middle-aged men aren’t as hopelessly obsessed or for that matter insecure about their sex lives as we’ve been led to believe.