There is this online ad that comes up a lot at The Onion for herpes medicine. It shows a guy walking alongside a girl who’s talking to him, while the thought bubble shows that he’s thinking that things seem to be heating up with her, but he’s worried about the red bumps and itchiness ‘down there’.
The ad is for a medicine that suppresses herpes outbreaks, but in the small print at the end it does make mention that it does not necessarily prevent the transimssion of the virus.
I understand the need for these medicines. Just because you have an incurable contagious STD shouldn’t mean you should have to suffer the symptoms, and there is another ad that alternates with the one I described that I think is a lot better, it’s a woman complaining on the phone about how her day shopping was ruined by the discomfort of her herpes sores.
The first ad, however, seems to imply that he is concerned about his mysterious red and itchy bumps because he expects to have sex with her soon, and he is unaware of the name of his condition. Since guys don’t tend to talk about embarassing things like a rash on your genitals to women they are interested in, she’s not aware either.
One of the implications of the ad is that, if he gets some of this medicine, he can have sex with her without the embarassing rash. Though I don’t recall seeing it in this particular one, I have seen similar ads that also point out the fact that this reduces the chances of transmission of the virus, but does not remove it.
I know the responsible thing for someone who has herpes to do is to either find other people who already have it to have sex with (there are singles groups for people with herpes, and something like 1 in 6 Americans have it), or to let your potential partners know about the disease in advance and, if they still want to have sex with you, take what steps are available (such as the medicines mentioned above, barrier methods, etc.) to reduce the chances that you spread it.
I’m sure if the guy in the ad talked to his doctor about herpes like the ad says to, he would be told more about it, and probably told to be responsible and try not to spread it. The problem is that nearly all common prescription drugs are rather easily available through methods that don’t require going to a doctor. How many people are going to, after seeing this ad, choose to get the drug without the embarassment, trouble, and expense of seeing a doctor and use it to hide their condition from sex partners?
I’m not against these drugs being available, but I just felt that the marketing for this one seemed a bit irresponsible.