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 AIDS
Group Slams Viagra Marketing
by The Associated Press
Posted: December 11, 2006 7:00 pm ET
(New York City) An AIDS organization is
launching an advertising campaign that says Pfizer Inc.'s marketing of Viagra
encourages recreational use of the drug, which fosters the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation
will begin its campaign this Wednesday by taking out a
full-page ad in the Village Voice, an alternative weekly in
New York. The ad will also appear this week in New York and
Los Angeles gay papers.
Ads will also eventually be placed
in publications in South Florida and San Francisco, according
to the Foundation which provides health care to AIDS patients
as well as education and prevention advice about the disease.
The ads show a picture of a
prescription pad which contains the message that Viagra
combined with crystal methamphetamine creates a prescription
for HIV infection. It says that crystal methamphetamine makes
it difficult to get and keep an erection, but Viagra makes it
possible to maintain an erection while on the illegal drug.
Lori Yeghiayan, a spokeswoman
for the Foundation, said that Pfizer's marketing treats Viagra
as a tool to improve one's sex life instead of a drug for a
medical condition.
In a statement, Pfizer said
that it has always been committed to safe and appropriate use
of Viagra and that the product's label clearly states that it
does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.
©365Gay.com 2006
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