After too much backlash and not enough customers, purveyors of the Big Three penis-pills — Viagra, Levitra, Cialis — are repositioning their sales pitches.

Levitra and Viagra now have new campaigns that forego the provocative in favor of depicting erectile dysfunction as a medical condition, not simply a lifestyle concern. The commercials are a recognition of the prior approach’s failure to expand the market, as well new guidelines adopted by the industry in January to address critics’ concerns and improve ads’ accuracy.

That’s funny. The “lifestyle concern” angle is precisely what the NFL cited when it ended its marketing partnership with Levitra, back in January:

Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, said the league chose to end the relationship because “the ads shifted from men’s health to a performance, lifestyle issue.” The change in advertising strategy made the NFL uncomfortable, McCarthy said.

So, while left unsaid, the National Football League was a primary agent in effecting this change. I’m thinking the loss of premium exposure time during football Sundays was enough of a jolt to make the drugmakers shift gears so abruptly. This new approach might be an attempt at rapprochement with the league.