Only Nixon could go to China, and only Iron Mike could help make Levitra, a new erectile dysfunction drug, palatable to the macho set.
Drug giants Glaxo and Bayer hired the 63-year-old gridiron great as a spokesman in July, a month before the pill hit the market.
“I know some guys are embarrassed to talk about this problem,” Ditka told USA Today.
“We guys want to be macho–but when you have a problem, why not face the facts?”
Some celebs pitch Viagra from the safety of retirement. But since he started hawking the drug, the Baltimore Orioles’ Rafael Palmeiro gets heckled when he steps up to the plate–and ballparks play “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
The Web’s UrbanDictionary.com lists his name as a synonym for impotence. Indeed, the player got defensive with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, saying,
“I know for sure a lot of people are taking it. A lot of people.”
The pill certainly hasn’t hurt his game: Palmeiro hit 38 home runs last season.
Handsome and brilliant, soccer star Pelé epitomized the virile Latin American soccer star, especially thanks to his relationship with Brazilian television sexpot Xuxa. So the soccer-playing world was shocked in 2002 to learn that the “King of Football” was pitching Viagra.
Speaking to the Agence France-Press at the time, Pelé carefully worded his support:
“If I had impotence, I would not hesitate to talk about this with my GP.”
DTC/DTP/DTJ (I) o de... "me lo ha mandado el médico" a "me lo ha mandado el paciente"
When a football game was on the line, no one’s blood was icier than Joe Montana’s. But high blood pressure actually runs in his family. He was diagnosed with the risk factor for heart attacks and strokes in 2002, and began taking Lotrel.
The drug’s maker, Novartis, signed Montana to head a hypertension awareness campaign, in which he has dropped the pill’s name.
Previously, he participated in a campaign–sponsored in part by Merck–to raise awareness about high cholesterol.
Her skates spun her to a gold medal in figure skating. Her cute bobbed hairstyle made its way onto the heads of millions. And her arthritis pain has spun her onto commercials for anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.
The 1976 Olympic gold medalist appeared in one ad, lacing her skates and pitching,
“Along with all the great memories has come something I thought I’d never experience–the pain of osteoarthritis.”
By Forbes
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Marketing "de notoriedad"...un riesgo.
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