I/O
How Tech Helped Create a New Erectile Dysfunction Crisis
Startups are exploiting the market Viagra created, but experts are wary
In 1998, Pfizer hired Bob Dole to be a spokesperson for Viagra. The former senator and presidential candidate epitomized the target audience for the new erectile dysfunction (ED) medication: A 75-year-old prostate cancer survivor, Dole’s erectile struggles were brought on by advanced age and ill health. In a commercial for Pfizer, he notes that conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and prostate surgery can also result in erectile issues, solidifying the public image of ED as a problem primarily faced by the elderly and the infirm.
But lately, that long-standing image of erectile dysfunction is starting to change. According to the website for SKYN Arise, a brand-new telemedicine website backed by the condom brand Lifestyles, “40% of men experience erectile dysfunction symptoms by age 40.” Hims, one of the best-known names in ED telemedicine, has made similar claims about the rates of erectile woes among young people; a third site, Roman, pegs the ED rate among the under-40 set at 26%. It’s a stark change from the era of Bob Dole — and in conjunction with sensational headlines about sex recessions and porn-induced erectile dysfunction, these marketing claims can make it seem like we’re experiencing an epidemic of young men with malfunctioning dicks.
The truth, however, is a bit more complicated than that. For starters, the ED these new startups are talking about is a little bit different from the condition Bob Dole raised awareness about back in the 1990s. “ED is a spectrum disorder,” says Erika Jensen, founder and CEO of Giddy, the company behind an eponymous new wearable device that advertises itself as a non-prescription alternative to medications like Viagra and Cialis. A horseshoe-shaped piece of plastic, Giddy is basically a modified cock ring: It strategically applies pressure to the penis with the goal of enhancing blood flow, while leaving the urethra unencumbered.
As Jensen sees it, the ED we associate with men like Bob Dole is just one end of the spectrum. In younger men, the condition looks a little different. Those erectile disappointments that are often attributed to stress…
