At Semprae Labs, "Sex Is Like a Bus Ride." (Guess Where the Depot Is)
Having sex is like riding on the bus, according to Semprae Labs, a company that markets a non-prescription topical treatment for female sexual dysfunction (i.e. lube) called Zestra.
Is that because sex is smelly, bumpy and filled with homeless people? No, according to Semprae CEO Mary Wallace Jaensch, it's because women who use Zestra are "more interested in getting on the bus, they have a much better time when they are on the bus, they usually get to their destination with a lot more pleasure, and they're a lot more interested in going back to the bus depot the next day."
Jaensch's sex-as-commuting metaphor is the subject of one of a series of videos the company published on the web in part because TV stations won't air its ads:
Only 24 of 136 stations that Semprae asked for airtime approved its the Zestra ads in full, according to president Rachel Braun Scherl, and those that requested modifications wanted all references to sex, sexuality, and arousal removed:
As a result of the vagueness of the message required to get clearance, it was not a terribly effective commercial.Here's one of those commercials, in which discussion of sex takes a back seat to the difference between experiencing "sparklers" and "fireworks."
Female sexual dysfunction is a controversial area for the pharmaceutical business -- many people do not believe it's a real medical condition, and the FDA has rejected proposed treatments for it in the past.
But Zestra isn't really a drug product (despite the company's use of the word "labs" in its name). It's more like something Trojan would advertise in its women's toys line. That company has tamed the TV industry with its over-the-top use of non-sexual imagery that heavily implies the product, even though it cannot show its products on TV. (This format -- the infomercial -- is fast becoming how America talks to itself about adult entertainment products.)
So it can be done. Keep trying, Semprae -- though maybe with fewer allusions to public transport in the future.
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