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Sex Sells
From
fairness creams and hair oils to products which promise weight loss and
marital bliss, a range of over-the-counter formulations flood the market.
India Today's Neeraj Mishra takes a look.
Pandit
Om Prakash Sharma must be the most original thinker on
taboo subjects since Vatsyayana. Sitting in his small flat in
central Bhopal, reading birth charts and palms he often came
across couples under severe marital strain.
He listened, he absorbed and he read the ancient Ayurvedic book
Bhavprakash feverishly. And then he surmised. And what he surmised led
him to concoct the most originative pill in Indian patent history: an
Ayurvedic tablet which when inserted in the vagina contracts the vaginal
muscles which he says makes "virgins out of married women''.
Sharma claims to have solved several hundred marital discords
through his simple invention. Contract the vaginal muscles and
behold, both partners are as happy as they were in the first few
months of their marriage till the children intervened and the man
lost interest.
Vandana, 34, has had two children and was amongst the first to try Sharma's
magic pill Sankochan. She reported 100 per cent
satisfaction and what's more said that the leucorrehea she
suffered from also vanished with only one pill. Sharma immediately applied
for a patent which was granted on February 18 this year. He also launched
the homemade Sankochan in the market. Now he says he is sitting on a gold
mine and waiting for the word to spread, especially in the West.
Like Sharma, Kunal Trivedi too is making quick money. He had a
wholesale business of Darjeeling tea when he decided to shift to
faster moving "over the counter" products---trade parlance for
sex medicines---like Body Plus and Weight Care. But he was still not satisfied.
"It is clear that men will do anything to increase
their sexual appetite, grow hair and attract women. So I was
looking for a product that would stimulate men and the market,''
he says with a straight face as he refers to Viagra as an OTC
product to be sold like wrapped toffee but with a stunning
promise. Then he came up with an original: Asex Candy. It is not a stimulant,
neither an aphrodisiac nor even a strictly medical
formulation. It is just an OTC product made at the confectioners
but sold with a "for men and women" tag. His friend C.N. Kothari
holds the business end and in three months since its launch, they
have raked in Rs 15 lakh at Rs 5 per candy.
Mohan Lal who runs a medical store in a busy bylane of Indore's
Dawa Bazar says: "Nothing sells like sex. On an average I sell at
least Rs 10 lakh worth of all this gold dust, oils, aphrodisiac
tablets and impotence and arousal medicines in a month.'' He
displays a series of products, including Gripper which is a
Sankochan clone. Each successful OTC product is immediately cloned as
sales agents scour the market for saleable labels and gauge the mood of
the buyer. Trivedi has already planned the launch of his next product
Hot Candy to be sold in similar Khajuraho-sculptured packaging and toffee
wrappers. "It's all in the mind. Even if I sold bhaji on the beach,
it will be with an appropriate suggestion and I'll never be without work,''
he says.
All such formulations have a definitive market. And this depends
almost totally on advertisement. Trivedi spends more than Rs 10
lakh a year on advertising his Asex candy and range of health
products. Sharma first launched Sankochan in Madhya Pradesh
spending a "fortune" and has now moved to Kolkata which is perhaps
the biggest market for such products. Half-page inserts appeared in all
Kolkata dailies in all languages. At Rs 200 a tablet,
Sharma probably does not even require repeat customers.
Sharma and Trivedi are not alone. Bigger, well-known companies too spend
millions in print and TV ads to promote products which are not adequately
tested and because of the present obsession with anything herbal, sell
with that tag.
Sharma, of course, believes he has a genuine product althouh
untested on a large enough sample base to report scientific
findings. "Bhavprakash has every detail about every herb found in
the Indian subcontinent and description of its properties. I
researched a lot before I came up with the right balance for
Sankochan,'' he says. He also has a drug license issued by the
Food and Drugs Department on the basis of certificates from
doctors and drug-testing labs. For good measure, he has acquired an export
licence as well.
There are other inventors too cashing in on a market where men
want to be potent, strongly built and even look fair. A powder
Ever-Fair produced in a bylane factory in Bhopal promises to
bleach the skin in 10 days flat. It is marketed by the International Marketing
Group based in Indore and no, you don't
have to apply it on your face. Just take a spoonful everyday and
get a whole body makeover in 10 days. Dr R. Goyal who certified Sankochan
says, "I have tested the tablet on more than 50 patients and they
have all reported 100 per cent satisfaction. More than 90 per cent patients
on follow up described the results as good.'' But the certificate she
gave to Sharma does not mention the tablet's unique property of contracting
vaginal muscles. It states plainly that "the medicine can be used
as a useful adjunct to conventional medical treatment of common gynaecological
disorders''.
This leads to further inquiry about the efficacy of such drugs.
Whether they are safe or if the Food and Drugs Department has
satisfied itself with the whole process of drug manufacture and
objective testing. "I am not totally convinced about the sample
size and there seems to be no stipulation about an objective
testing methodology by the Drug Control Department,'' says Dr
Ashok Gupta, director of Bhopal's biggest multi-specialty hospital
Ayushman. He also points out that there are some allopathic drugs like
Acetyl Cholene, basically neurotransmitters, which can be used for muscle
contraction but are never used in the vaginal
area. Their effect also lasts for a short while and not a month as
claimed by Sankochan. He is also doubtful of the efficacy of such
ancient Ayurvedic formulation as Shilajit and Swarna Bhasm.
"Ninety per cent of impotency is psychological and for the other
10 per cent there are medicines which target the blood pressure
and nervous system. The exact mechanism of action of Shilajeet etc is
not known, '' he says. Dr S.K. Ujjawal who practises Ayurveda adds, "The
ingredients used in the preparation of these tablets have such well-known
antibiotics as neem and turmeric which may have their benefits but beyond
that I can not say.''
Most doctors however agree that the Drug Control authorities and the loose
system they adopt in issuing drug licenses are largely to blame for the
flourishing trade in OTC. The Drug Control
Department in Madhya Pradesh for instance has its own team of
doctors and scientists but depends upon the certification provided by
the manufacturer, especially the Ayurvedic and Unani kind. Sharma, however,
is convinced that ancient Indian texts on
Ayurveda hold the key to almost all ailments and this has led him
to embark on his next project: a paste that will grow a fresh set
of teeth inside ageing wrinkled cheeks. The idea is only
marginally less audacious than Sankochan.
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