
In an image suggestive of Ian Fleming's James Bond, President Barack Obama is the new face of contraband Viagra in Pakistan. Despite unpopularity there for his frequent drone attacks -- the American president remains a model of strength in marketing Pfizer's popular sex drug abroad.
Pakistan, where Viagra is banned, has a thriving black market for erectile dysfunction drugs. The little blue pills are often smuggled in through Afghanistan, and take up shelf space alongside drugs of dubious quality and origin.
A recent video produced by Agence France-Presse, whose reporter calls Obama an unwitting "symbol of power and virility," shows covers of the contraband drug alongside interview with merchants. Shopkeepers claim various reasons that clients buy the drugs; one explains that "they improve the duration of those who have destroyed their youth through masturbation."
In Pakistan, one dollar will buy you four tablets; in America, one dollar buys you one twenty-fifth.
Viagra's manufacturer, Pfizer, will soon begin selling the drug online without a prescription in the United States. According to AP, the company has patents allowing it exclusive sale in the U.S. through 2020.
More images:
AFP's video appears below.