TAMPA, FL — The Florida Family Association, an affiliate of the American Family Association, is taking to task the American Association of Retired Persons over an advertisement that appeared in the organization’s January 2009 Bulletin.The ad, placed by the Sinclair Institute, promotes the Better Sex series of educational videos under the headline “Sex. It’s never too late to learn something new.”

For the love of God, the FFA wants to know, what was AARP thinking?

“It is truly a sad day for America’s moral environment when AARP lowers its standards to promote a company that sells hardcore explicit materials,” FFA President David Caton wrote in an email alert he sent to about 35,000 subscribers.

In fairness, the Better Sex series is fairly explicit. Better Sex videos are created as “how-to” guides, though, not merely to titillate viewers or appeal to their prurient interests. The Sinclair Institute, a division of Adam & Eve parent company PHE Inc., produces the videos in cooperation with healthcare professionals and advertises the products in such august publications as the Wall Street Journal and Good Housekeeping.

One has to wonder whether FFA believes all adults should remain in the dark about intimate practices that might spice up their love lives. Perhaps FFA members are offended by the notion that AARP members — who in most cases have passed the age at which they desire to procreate — would have sex merely for the recreational value at a point in their lives when they have some free time.

Most likely FFA’s antipathy for the ads is a result of its and AFA’s longstanding feud with PHE.

“AARP does not feel the ad was objectionable, and it was not our intent to offend anyone,” AARP Florida spokesman David Bruns noted in a prepared statement. “We take complaints from our members seriously and do and will investigate all complaints and respond accordingly.”

Caton told Tampa Bay Online he wants AARP to apologize publicly and pledge never again to run morally reprehensible advertising.