FirstMed Consulting Blog

Not satisfied with being simply a pill, Viagra has become a cultural phenomenon. Now the ‘magic blue pill’ is expanding again to become ‘Viagra – the video game’. Pfizer is currently advertising its blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug with an online game called “Viva Cruiser.”

The game appears if web users click on a sky-scraper-shaped Viagra ad that has been placed on some pages of Forbes.com. The move into so-called “advergaming” is a new one for the drug business. The industry is traditionally slower to adopt new marketing media than others but Pfizer isn’t known for hanging back when it comes to innovation

In the game, players are instructed, “You’re about to take your partner on a romantic getaway. Pick up a few things on the way.” Players must then guide a motorcycle rider down a desert road picking up gifts for a date and avoiding orange hazard cones. The gifts include roses, scented candles, gift boxes — and of course little, blue, diamond-shaped pills. Pfizer’s “Viva Viagra” theme song can be heard in the background. The desert and the song are a play on the “Viva Las Vegas” theme that Pfizer has borrowed for its campaign. Simultaneously, a man’s voice offers advice: “Don’t let erectile dysfunction slow you down … erectile dysfunction is a common issue so doctors talk to men about ED all the time,” and so on.

The new game has once again stirred up controversy about Pfizer’s marketing of Viagra. The pharmaceutical giants have frequently been criticized for promoting Viagra as a party drug rather than as a legitimate treatment for a medical condition.