All Hail The Viagra Generation

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 2000

There is a new generation of children who probably would not exist without pharmaceuticals like Viagra, maintains Ken Gronbach, CEO and president of KGA Advertising, Middletown, Conn. "We call these children `The Viagra Generation,' and we project that their impact will be significant. Not since the return of GIs after World War II has this country seen such an important artificially created trend."

He defines the Viagra Generation as "a group of babies who would not have been anticipated were it not for an artificially created increase in procreative activity from the use of pharmaceuticals. Without drugs like Viagra, I think it's safe to say that these children simply would not have been fathered. So, instead of seeing the naturally occurring end of Generation Y, which peaked in 1990, we are seeing it continue. We've done the math and we expect Viagra-type drugs to make a significant contribution to our population."

Gronbach bases his conclusions on an assortment of figures: One-third of the male population is in its procreative years. In the U.S., that amounts to 46,000,000 males. A conservative estimate is that there are 5,000,000 prescriptions per month written for Viagra alone. At six pills per month (the amount allowed by insurance companies), that equals 30,000,000 procreative acts. The average chance for a normally fertile couple having unprotected intercourse to conceive is around 25% during each menstrual cycle, according to the Worldwide Fertility Network. "Let's take a conservative view and say that only 10% of those acts result in a child," Gronbach indicates. That means, potentially, an additional 3,000,000 conceptions. By way of comparison, at the height of Generation Y, just over 4,000,000 babies were born. "There's no way [such] a population increase could not have an impact on everyone from city planners to mini-van manufacturers."

What does this mean for businesses? "Right now, we're seeing the tail of the comet. It's going to take awhile for this trend to become visible to marketers. But we can expect Gen Y to be the largest generation in the history of the U.S. Bigger than the baby boomers. These kids will have enormous spending power, because those using Viagra tend to be in the upper 10% of the socioeconomic segment of our population. It will effect everything from ailing hospitals ... to stroller manufacturers. Look for an uptick in sales of baby products and clothes, mini-vans, infant furniture, and toys. If I were [the toy company] Mattel, I'd be buying stock in the pharmaceutical company that makes Viagra."