It might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. According to Jim Edwards at BrandWeek.com:

[Johnson & Johnson] will launch a promotion this month, in which churches, charities and nonprofit groups—such as the Girl Scouts—will be encouraged to sell J&J’s painkillers and cough medicine to their friends and neighbors. For every purchase of a J&J brand, including Tylenol, Sudafed, BenGay and Motrin, J&J will donate 8% of the sale to the community group…

Here’s how it works: The volunteer persuades a neighbor to buy their regular over-the-counter medicine from J&J as part of the fund-raiser. The consumer then goes to Ucareorg.com to punch in the code for their specific fundraising group. After that, any product they buy will benefit the community group.

Based on Big Pharma’s demonstrated predilections when it comes to hiring drug reps, we can only imagine where this latest initiative might lead.

(Note: At the moment, the Ucareorg.com site appears to be down.)