Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19357

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Silverman E
Singing The Blues: A Merck LP & An Antidepressant
Pharmalot 2011 Mar 11
http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/03/singing-the-blues-a-merck-lp-an-antidepressant/

Full text:

Back in 1966, the world was different. There were no digital downloads. People used to listen to music on hi-fi equipment that would spin long-playing records, or LPs, which were made of vinyl. And Merck – which used to call itself Merck, Sharp & Dohme – was selling an antidepressant called Elavil. So what better way to promote its pill than on a special album of blues songs, yes?
You know, if you’ve got the blues – and, therefore, may listen to the blues – then perhaps you would also consider a pill to take those blues away. And what better way to bring your pill to the music lover’s attention than with ‘Symposium in Blues,’ an LP that was released on the RCA Victor label? Among the artists to be heard were Leroy Carr, Leadbelly, Joe Williams and Washboard Sam, although a few jazz artists were included, such as Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw and Louis Armstrong.
As you can see, the woman on the cover is smiling, presumably because she popped an Elavil after hearing Leroy Carr sing ‘Rocks in my Bed’ (listen here). After all, the record sleeve boasts that Elavil was highly effective and well tolerated, and also possessed both antidepressant and anti-anxiety actions (please go to Retrohound to see this for yourself). The pill, by the way, belongs to the tricyclic antidepressant class that was popular at the time.
This certainly must have qualified as clever product placement, but the sort of maneuver that would be hard to imagine pulling off today. Ironically, a growing number of rock albums around then were starting to surreptitiously – and not so surreptitiously – promote the use of other kinds of drugs (feel free to tell us your favorite…song). But these were not regulated by the FDA, either. In any event, the LP is still available (look here) so go ahead and treat yourself. Maybe it will liven your day, anyway.