In 1961, Wallace Laboratories marketed its prescription drug brands Milpath and Soma through 2 boxed sets of 7-inch 33rpm records. These records most likely served as trade ads and would have been distributed to doctors (as opposed to the general public).

Side A's of the records featured presentations by various doctors on treatments for things like peptic ulcers, duodenal ulcers, overactive appetite, orthopedic problems, etc. Side B's featured Westminster, Epic and Vanguard Records recordings of Classical music standards like Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 18, No. 5, and Brahms' Hungarian Dances.

It also appears that Wallace Labs released a Christmas record promoting Milpath and Vanguard recordings of carols and Respighi's The Birds.

Based on information on the labels, Milpath was to be used for any variety of gastrointestinal problems, whereas Soma was for joint stiffness and post-surgery pain relief. (In actuality, Milpath seems to be best known as an addictive sedative).

The record I found a couple weeks ago features Dr. Joseph Bandes talking about "Combined Drug Therapy in G.I. Dysfunction: Increased Benefit through Diminished Side Reactions." (And of course I originally assumed that G.I. referred to General Infantry and not gastro-intestinal). Side B features the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam playing Bach's "Air on the G String." In the excerpt below, the announcer makes a point to say that the performance is of the piece "as originally composed"--and not a transposition into G.

I'm curious to know more about the strategy behind this campaign.

The LPCover Lover has found a previous example of the Classics being used to market GI treatments, but in that case, the Classical piece that was used was topically related (Marin Marais' "Table of a Bladder Operation").