With a background of ominous music, things come to a standstill with the message: “that would not have happened if you had a divorce lawyer!” When asked about the advertisement and its ramifications by the WSJ, a partner of the law firm said, “I know it is a provocation for our association, but at the moment they have not reacted.”
Though the ad has drawn criticisms as well as appreciation from different corners of the world, ‘consternation’ is the right word to express the feelings of those used to seeing the profession of law in a more traditional light. Wall Street Journal featured the ad as its “legal ad of the week” and we too would have done so if we had such a category.
In the alternative, the least we can do is to cover this upfront challenge to stereotypical projection of the legal community, and leave reactions to our readers. According to a partner of the firm, Mr. Hannig, and as expressed to WSJ, “There is no political statement … I wanted to show that lawyers can be funny … I wanted to say, hey, we are cool too. We are not those men always sitting in the library reading books.”
According to the law firm, the commercial had been shot two years back and had been posted on the website of the firm for some time. However, recently the firm decided to buy space for the spot at the film series. You can see the ad for yourself here