Andrew Schirmer, managing director of McCann Humancare claimed that his job has been especially challenging lately. Schirmer is trying to devise a new ad campaign for Viagra, Pfizer Inc.'s erectile disfunction drug, at a time when racy spots for impotency pills such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra helped fuel the public's ire over drug commercials. There hasn't been a Viagra TV ad since November 2004, when regulators requested Pfizer halt the commercials because they violated several regulations, including making unsubstantiated claims.

"With all the sex in ads this is the one place where we can't use sex," laments Schirmer, of an agency specializing in health care ads. Facing a furor over its advertising practices and the potential of more government regulation, the pharmaceutical industry adopted voluntary guidelines in January, 06, to improve the accuracy and balance of ads so that the severity of diseases and drugs' side effects aren't whitewashed.

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