Florida Attorney Claims Offensive Ad Is The Result Of Hackers
Sexism masquerading as an attorney advertisement.
Can you imagine scrolling through Facebook late one night and coming across an advertisement that promises to help you deal with a “tease”? And it turned out to be from an attorney?
The mind just boggles, but according to a report from the Panama City News Herald, that’s what happened. On Sunday at 4:14 a.m., the below ad appeared on the Facebook page for Florida attorney Albert J. Sauline III, along with an image of Sauline’s business card.
“Drunk in the middle of the night, all because the woman led you on all night for free drinks then wouldn’t keep her promise after the Club? Call Attorney Sauline … where we understand the tease.”
The shocking and wildly inappropriate advertisement drew quite a negative reaction. Including a Florida attorney that tagged the state bar associate with a note to “look at this.”
When first contacted about the ad, Sauline blamed it on contractors he uses for marketing:
Sauline stated that his firm contracts with an out-of-state company for social media posts, adding that the post was made without his knowledge and was “not worded in the way in which it should have been.” He said he deleted the post as soon as he was made aware of it.
“Obviously, that’s disgusting and I have personally removed it,” Sauline said.
Sauline later amended his statement to indicated he’d been a victim of hacking:
“It looked like someone was hacking our system,” Sauline said.
But, as the News Herald notes, Sauline is no stranger to some… colorful ads:
Several posts on the Facebook page appear to be off-beat from the usual fare, including one posted on New Year’s warning people not to drink and drive, “But when you do, we’re only digits away” and one posted on Thanksgiving telling people to call them “when you drink too much, and finally hit that one relative you absolutely despise.”
Regardless of who bears ultimate responsibility for the disgusting ad, at least it’s been taken down and no one has to deal with it anymore. But make no mistake, this is sexism masquerading as an attorney advertisement and, particularly in light of the #metoo movement, it is utterly unacceptable.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
