Advertising Should Create Friends, Not Enemies
Alienating a whole industry is not a good outcome of any advertising. A Texas law firm learned this lesson the hard way.
According to Debra Cassens Weiss in a June 2014 abajournal.com article entitled "Law Firm Apologizes to Truckers for 'Serial Killer' Ad," Villarreal & Begum, a personal injury law firm, ran an ad in Maxim magazine featuring the words "serial killer" above a picture of a truck cab. The copy then discussed the number of deaths and injuries on highways as a lead-in to advertising the firm's services. Truckers were so angry that truck stops stopped selling the publication. Both the law firm and the magazine found themselves apologizing.
It is interesting how many politicians, movie stars, CEOs, etc., can't manage to think before they speak. The newspaper is full of stories of people backtracking from words not so carefully chosen. A sampling includes the following: Don Imus, racist comment about Rutgers' women's basketball team; Rush Limbaugh, sexist comment about a Georgetown Law student; and Mel Gibson, anti-Semitic comment.
Granted, it is not always easy to think before you speak. Speech is a very in-the-moment type of activity. Advertising, on the other hand, has an advantage over regular speech in that a person who is advertising has the benefit of time to carefully consider the message. And careful consideration is critical.
The purpose of advertising is to gain clients, admirers, friends. If your advertising is creating enemies-or, just as bad, alienating potential clients - well, you have not done your job well.
Advertising is important. It is a vehicle to spread the message about your firm. Since the purpose of advertising is to make others think highly of your firm, your money is not well spent if you do not accomplish that goal, and, worse, the success of your firm is at risk.
Thus, a good rule is not only to think before you speak but also to think before you approve that advertisement.
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