A brewing controversy between the ABA and a growing number of law firms involves the use of mascots in attorney advertisements. Larry Bodine of the Professional Services Marketing Blog (http://pm.typepad.com/professional_marketing_bl/) points out a new development that may have relevance to this controversy.



Law firm Womble Carlyle just introduced a new series of ads with their mascot, a pitbull named Winston, dancing to funk music. See it here (http://www.lawmarketing.com/images/dance_full.mov). Bodine thinks the spot is cool, and it should be noted that it actually is sort of cool. But let's not forget the fate of Florida firm Pape & Chandler, who used a very similar pitbull in their ads. The Flordia Bar said that Pape & Chandler could not use the pitbull because it is misleading to clients and demeaning to attorneys.





So if the pitbull can dance, it's not demeaning?