Makers Of Female Sexual Arousal Products Cite Bias In Ad Standards

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 15 Sep 2010 - 2:00 PST


The makers of Zestra Essential Arousal Oils, which claim to enhance sexual arousal in women, have faced difficulties advertising the product because of what they argue are a bias in ad standards and a cultural discomfort with female sexuality, the New York Times reports.

The two-minute ad for the product features middle-aged women saying things like, "Women are starting to talk about something they have been feeling for a long time: wanting more sexual satisfaction." According to the Times, the ad is "pretty tame" compared with ads for other products dealing with sexuality, including erectile dysfunction drugs and condoms. However, Zestra's ad has been rejected or censored by nearly 100 TV stations and most radio stations that considered it, as well as the social networking website Facebook and the website WebMD.

Rachel Braun Scherl, president of Semprae Laboratories, which manufactures Zestra, said there is "a double standard when it comes to society's comfort level with female sexual health and enjoyment." She noted that erectile dysfunction drugs "are a perfectly acceptable part of conversation in our culture today, but when it comes to talking about the realities of women's lives, like menstruation, you always have some woman running in the field in a dress." She added, "In our experience, we haven't seen women behaving that way."

While Semprae shopped the ad to TV stations from May to December 2009, only two out of 100 stations -- Soapnet Women's Entertainment and Discovery Health -- picked it up. Other stations refused to air it or placed restrictions on it, according to the Times. For example, BET would only air the ad from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., while other networks required disclaimers, such as, "Not for people under 18." Zestra's radio ads "did not fare any better," as many stations said the words "sex" and "arousal" would need to be removed, "which proved somewhat challenging for a product having to do with sexual arousal," the Times reports. According to Braun Scherl and Semprae CEO Mary Janesch, sales of Zestr have increased month over month, despite the advertising setbacks.

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said, "Double standards abound when it comes to advertising anything having to do with our private parts." He added that ads for erectile dysfunctions drugs are often more explicit than Zestra's ad and are "played during major venues like the Super Bowl." Thompson said that the difference with Zestra is that it "places female pleasure first," adding, "If this product works as well as it claims, Victorian prissiness and the collective American embarrassment about sex will probably be trumped by the marketplace" (Ellin, New York Times, 9/13).

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