What's wrong with this picture? - VIII (extended dance mix)

Where do you think this is from?

A. Victoria's Secret?

B. www.carwashmommas.com?

C. The "Squeegee kids we'd like to meet" feature in Maxim magazine?

Answer: None of the above. This is from...

... the Canadian Medical Association Journal!

No lie. Here's the whole ad from the October 9 issue.



Testim is a testosterone gel marketed to men with low testosterone levels. You get the gist of the ad: If you didn't answer the ad's quiz with "C", maybe you need to smear a little Testim on your hypogonadal self.

This is not the type of ad you usually see in a medical journal (note that, in the actual journal, the ad is in full, glossy color and much more, uh, life-like). No doubt an attention-seeking ploy by the marketers.

And, attention they got.

Check out these letters in the December 4 CMAJ (under the title "Advertisement". You need to open each PDF. Sorry, that's the way CMAJ is set up).

Some readers were upset that this ad, demeaning to women, they say, appeared in a medical journal (or anywhere, if I understand some of the letters). I agree with their point and that this isn't appropriate for the CMAJ, despite the protestations from Paladin Labs.

But, would it be disingenuous to suggest that the ad is also demeaning to men? The message to men is that, if you don't dissolve into a drooling, hormone-fueled, horn-honking mess when this woman appears in your car windshield, then there must be something wrong with you.

And you should be medicated.

Anyway, I particularly like the response from Paladin's VP, Sales and Marketing, Mark Beaudet, who stays on message and insists that everything is on the up and up.

"We did physician focus groups, for goodness sake!" (I'm paraphrasing.) Where? At a stag party?

Well, M. VP, you're the Marketing professional. We'll just have to see how this ad plays out for the rest of the campaign. You are sticking to your guns and carrying on with the campaign, aren't you?