UPDATE (7/19/16 5:18 p.m.): We now have some more of Wyatt’s ads, and it’s pretty clear he’s compiling the most terrifying collection of characters ever to hear the reading of a will… read on for more.
If the point of advertising to generate attention, then credit goes to Sacramento Trusts & Estates attorney Brian D. Wyatt. The Boalt-trained attorney’s latest print ad found its way into our tip box more than once over the last week.
Most of the tipsters were not so nice about it, with comments like:
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Sacramento’s top social-regressive trust attorney.
And:
I just came across this in Inside East Sac, a local community newspaper in a relatively wealthy part of Sacramento. I just confirmed it’s not a joke. So, it’s just truly regressive and bizarre.
“Bizarre” has a pretty high threshold in the world of legal advertising. We have half-naked oil rubs in this industry. But the claim that the ad is socially regressive is at least colorable. Let’s take a look:
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First off, the gold-digger trope is a mainstay in anti-woman rhetoric. It simultaneously casts women as cunning sexual predators and vapid trophies, which is a neat trick. Imagery like this pigeon-holes more women into a negative stereotype divorced from individual circumstances. The ad tries to gin up the fear that every attractive daughter-in-law is out to steal the family fortune.
On the other hand, what exactly do you think trusts & estates attorneys do? If there isn’t some n’er-do-well in-law — male or female — in a family, T&E really wouldn’t be a practice. The fact of the matter is that people like this two-dimensional representation really do exist and at least five of them aren’t starring in a Real Housewives spin-off yet.
This ad rings sadly true to a handful of people out there, and Wyatt’s practice depends on reaching exactly those people. Its exaggeration may produce troubling externalities, but no more so than home security commercials posting a menacing prowler 10 feet from everyone’s front door contributes to the siege mentality and the racist assumptions that go along with it. But burglary does happen and it’s not easy to divine how to make a commercial for alarms that calmly puts the whole thing in perspective.
Bringing us back to Lucy. Like it or not, this is an effective ad. And while it carries some baggage along with it, its pernicious effects are diminished when put in the proper perspective. He’s not saying every woman is a scheming, superficial “Lucy.” He’s just saying every Californian woman is a scheming, superficial Lucy.
UPDATE (7/19/16 5:18 p.m.): Backing up my reading of these ads as caricatures of real-world estate planning nightmares, Wyatt actually has a few more ads in this campaign and they are great:
Looks like Lucy has some less-than-admirable company out there. Without diminishing the real problems with delving into stereotypes for humor, there is, again, a context at play here. These ads are doing a lot more to capture the attention of potential clients than a dry recitation of Wyatt’s credentials.
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.