My favorite TV show that I used to watch Friday evenings several years ago was always brutally interrupted by annoying commercial blocks. I used to change the channel, but one day a commercial attracted my attention. The first time I watched it because the brand “Viagra” used interesting euphemistic image of sex: dancing.
The ad shows a kind of dance lesson, where a grey-haired man is dancing with a young dance school teacher. She is a curvaceous woman with long dark hair and big earrings. In the beginning man looks uncertain and constrained, but when the dance teacher is suddenly replaced with a blonde woman (hypothetically his wife) he becomes more confident dancer. He swings and guides his partner around the dance floor. In the middle of their dance the commercial pauses with the phrase “Viva La Surprise” that appears in a cursive against the blue-tinted static image of the couple. In the end of the commercial the announcer gives the details, as the camera linger on a the couple`s diamond wedding rings, which is a visual sign that confirms the fact that Viagra is for married people and not for one-night-stands.
The sexuality message is not at all overt in the commercial. It is expressed through the equation sex = dance, that has long existed in movies and media culture. Other medicine ads sometimes depict dance to show vitality, however Viagra commercial is using dance as a successful metaphor for sex. The commercial entitled “Viva Viagra” involves sexuality through movement, language and music, though this connection is visually dissociated through its general narrative and casting. The word “Viva!” recalls the well-known Elvis movie “Viva Las Vegas!”, which is a sexualized signifier that references to the so-called sin-city Las Vegas.
The “Viva Viagra” task was quite difficult: to talk about erectile dysfunction without actually mentioning sex, but only hinting at it. This ad is using the subtle messages about sexuality. The intimacy in the ad is shown through the husband`s attitude towards his wife. He is talking dancing lessons to make a surprise, which means that he cares about his wife and is ready to take a risk to make her happy. The ad obviously involves the topic of sexual health, mostly with the help of the announcer who gives the details about the erectile dysfunction problem and the drug to treat it. A very interesting aspect of this commercial is how the sexual identity is shown. In partner dance, both husband and wife have to learn the dance however husband`s new skills make sense only if the wife was already good at dancing. But of course, the man has to lead. This fact is pointing at masculinity and traditional gender roles, where a male is the leader in relationships. And the stereotype used in the ad is that being a leader means being good at dancing (sex), where Viagra is sure to help. Sensuality in this ad is realized through dancing. The very process …