Lawyer TV ad spoof: would you hire this firm?
Lawyer TV ads are often criticized for being tacky. "The Tackiest Lawyer Ad. . .Ever," is a fine example. A lawyer publicity firm, hoping to attract lawyers for their services, made a parody of terrible lawyer TV ads, but does it work? Would you hire the firm that made this spot?
Do you reckon this is amusing?
I didn't laugh. Isn't that the first objective of publicity that purports to use humor? In the first few seconds, I thought this was a cheesy lawyer's attempt to advertise and I was embarrassed–for him and for our profession. Once I got the joke, I thought, "ah, a spoof, okay, we can all laugh at ourselves once in awhile." But I still didn't laugh; did you?
Right, parody doesn't always demand LOL and if this was just someone fooling around and poking fun, well, okay, it worked for some and not for others, but this is an ad by a company that wants us to give them their business.
Would you hire this firm?
The ad says, "lawyers' ads are tacky and don't work; we can produce an ad that's not tacky and does work." But they use a tacky ad to make that point. Is that excellent psychology? Is that excellent publicity?
I don't reckon it is. At smallest amount not in this case.
If they showed us a successful ad they produced for one of their clients, would that be better? Yeah, I reckon it would. Show us what you do, not what you don't do. Ads that demonize or make fun of "the other guy" can sell. But they have to get all the elements right and in this case, I don't reckon they did.
What do you reckon? Click on the balloon above to add your comments.