And people buy that sort of thing every single day.
While I, as stated above, didn’t think the world of the specific ad in question I understand why it was done. Typically you should play to a women’s insecurity and to a man’s greed.
Pitched woman: Oh no! Without product X I’ll be cold and lonely!
Pitched man: All right! With product X I’ll get laid!
Disclaimer: I’m not saying it’s right, or correct or morally benign. I’m just saying that it works.
So I agree that making an insecurity pitch at men (though they’ve certainly tried to develop a women’s market for Rogaine) is sort of counter to conventional wisdom I could also say that maybe they think they’ve got a product that defies conventional wisdom. Anything is worth a test, after all. If it works they suddenly have TWO handles on their male customer base.