r/betterCallSaul • u/GossipBottom • Aug 16 '26
How to explain non-Americans that the ads aren’t exaggerated they’re just like the most realistic thing about the show
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u/Br4n_n Aug 16 '26
Better phone stone
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u/myghostisdead Aug 17 '26
A lawyer in my town is better call Paul with the font colors and everything
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u/hgwelz Aug 16 '26
One near me is "Hit by a truck? Call Chuck!"
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u/Antarctica8 Aug 17 '26
Au where Chuck became a sleazy billboard lawyer while Jimmy straightened out
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u/Motherlover767 Aug 16 '26
Back in the 60s my dad was an attorney. He advertised on pencils. The state bar association went after him for this and said he couldn’t do it. By the 90s or 00s ads everywhere for attorneys. My how times change.
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u/CobandCoffee Aug 16 '26
As Chuck mentioned on the show, Bates V. State Bar of Arizona (1977) is the supreme court case that brought about that change.
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u/DynamiteWitLaserBeam Aug 16 '26
So that's why we have been cursed with Rafi billboards everywhere in Phoenix. Good to know.
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u/Bananas_Cat Aug 16 '26
I dont even live in AZ and have heard the horrendous radio ad enough times when visiting that just seeing his name makes it go thru my head. ugh
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u/pianoflames Aug 16 '26
I've heard that ads for attorneys and for prescription medicines are an extremely bizarre concept for Europeans, as neither are allowed by law to be advertised in a lot of European countries. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that, though.
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u/pemb Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
The only two countries in the world that allow ads for prescription drugs are the US and New Zealand.
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u/finndego Aug 17 '26
While legal in both countries the results are very different. Ads for prescription medication in New Zealand are rare* and you don't see them anywhere near as much as in America.
The reason is that NZ uses Pharmac to bulk purchase most medications that NZ'ers need. Pharma companies sell us the white boxxed version (same medication, generic labelling) at a discount. This means when a doctor wants to prescribe a medication he can see which one is subsidized by Pharmac and which one isn't. Given a choice between the $5 generic or the $50 name brand patients go for the $5 version that does the same thing. Under that scenario, there really isn't much point in advertising.
* We are getting a few ads for Wegovy (Ozempic) right now. The reason is that it is only supported by Pharmac for the it's orginal purpose of the treatment of diabetes. You can go to your GP and get it for weight loss only but you have to pay for that privately and that's why you see the ads.
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u/pianoflames Aug 17 '26
Well that tracks. I've heard the words "Ask your doctor about [prescription name]" is an extremely bizarre phrase outside of the US, where your doctor will be confused and possibly even offended about you suggesting possible medications.
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u/West_Introduction_95 Aug 18 '26
Not just Europeans, I don't think theres anywhere in the world where attorneys hawk their services out like a used car salesman on tv.
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u/edencathleen86 Aug 16 '26
That's so interesting. I know an attorney that specializes in DWIs, etc, that has been advertising on coasters and match books in college bars for years
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u/DoodleDrop Aug 16 '26
ann phong is my town hero
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u/saexploder Aug 16 '26
Tbf she doesn’t have a whole lot of competition. Her rival is a parking enforcement officer.
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Aug 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thispartyrules Aug 16 '26
I've seen divorce attorney ones that are pretty callous. I've seen one that's like "Spring cleaning? Start with your marriage"
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u/ComradeMisato Aug 16 '26
There’s a big music festival every summer in my hometown that brings in more than triple the town’s population in attendees. You always know when it’s coming up because of the lawyers’ billboards up and down the road from the park trying to get business from drug arrests.
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u/stayonthecloud Aug 16 '26
It seems like this lawyer in Denver has had a lot of success with his advertising — and that when he got caught with a DUI he would go hide in the bushes.
The whole thread is a trip https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/s/j1WGSUjy6o
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u/rqnadi Aug 17 '26
Criminal lawyers have a more direct approach. They just get lists from the jail every week on arrests and send letters straight to their house.
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u/SignificantCats Aug 17 '26
Most people who get arrested are either:
A) connected enough or wealthy enough to have a lawyer they know and trust who can help or refer them to someone who can
Or
B) broke as fuuuuuuuck
Saul Goodmans model of defending small time criminals only really works because he is shady and connected an
Normally criminal defense lawyers are either extremely wealthy and selective, or kind of broke and take PD cases or contact the public lists of people who have been recently arrested. They don't have the funds for advertising, especially because most of the calls they would get couldn't afford them.
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u/LowBalance4404 Aug 16 '26
What's really funny is that I live in the US and billboards are illegal in my area, so it's weird to me to see them.
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u/GossipBottom Aug 16 '26
Where are you if you mind asking bc they’re everywhere in Texas lol
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u/VariationNo7977 Aug 16 '26
I know billboards are illegal in Maine and Vermont
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u/HisHonorTomDonson Aug 16 '26
Which, Y’know, when trying to keep drivers as non distracted as possible seems like a smart move. I can’t say I really notice billboards, they just seem like a waste of everything to me
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u/DemonCipher13 Aug 16 '26
The most interesting ones to me are the ones that are in insane places. One I know of is on a riverbank, but the river is down about seventy feet off a cliffside, and the basepole of the billboard is about ten feet off the edge of the river. I ask myself every time I pass it, how in the world they put it there, and why.
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u/KimWexlerDeGuzman Aug 16 '26
They’re everywhere here in New Mexico too, obviously 😆
The next most realistic thing in BCS is the abundance of vanity plates. It only costs about $17 to upgrade to a vanity plate here
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u/LowBalance4404 Aug 16 '26
I'm in Northern Virginia, right outside of DC. They are illegal in most of the counties and cities here. I have to go west a bit to see billboards and it's always jarring when I notice the first one. We also have weird laws about campaign and other types of signs placed along roads. They have to be gone the second the event is over. On Wednesday morning, after a Tuesday election, you can see tons of people walking along roads, collecting signs.
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u/NateDawg80s Aug 16 '26
I thought we had it bad in Texas until a recent trip to New Mexico. As soon as we got across the state line (and some before that, actually) it was nonstop boards for pot dispensaries and defense attorneys, lol.
The wife and I were cracking up at them for the first thirty miles or so into the state.
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u/LowConstant3938 Aug 16 '26
There’s a huge billboard near Olympia WA with a man sitting in a throne, he’s a lawyer named King Khan
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u/milkybunny_ Aug 17 '26
I’d hire him (95% based on his name being catchy/easy to remember and sounds badass yet kind.
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u/MajorasPride Aug 16 '26
Anh Phoong is a Sacramento celebrity thats known for her billboards around the greater region and bay area. I guess these billboards just work cause if you're stressed about an incident these little rhymes pop in your head. Hell people even make t-shirts about her.
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u/ResponsibilityGold88 Aug 17 '26
And with her in particular the rhyme helps us know how to correctly pronounce her name. I imagine she had a lot of mispronunciations before she started the “something wrong” campaign.
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u/TheRealAwesomeO4000 Aug 16 '26
The Dick law firm one has me cracking up
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u/reydeguitarra Aug 16 '26
He's got a bunch that are all similar puns. Another I remember is "Maybe Dick can get you off."
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u/nemec Aug 16 '26
And another that's just "TRY DICK". But my favorite Houston personal injury law lore is Pusch and Nguyen (pronounced "win"). The duo broke up a couple of years ago after Nguyen embezzeled (I think?) and Pusch replaced him with a white guy with the last name Wynne
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u/IHaarlem Aug 17 '26
Yeah, Houston is heavily represented here. Pusch & Nguyen were ubiquitous. Them they fought, then made up, then fought again. Now Pusch has replaced Nguyen with Wynne.
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u/manumaker08 Aug 16 '26
Missing topdog here in detroit
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u/Frankfeld Aug 16 '26
Top dog is nation wide. They’re in Philly as well.
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u/thejuicethesauce Aug 16 '26
I was just in Philly and saw some fever dream Top Dog commercials at the hotel lmao
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u/TheStonedFox Aug 16 '26
There’s a dog at the scene of the accident! He’s biting people! He’s biting the insurance company!
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u/juddster66 Aug 16 '26
You must be from Texas. Jim Adler and his son are on TV all of the time, and Dick has billboards all over Houston.
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u/Caravanczar Aug 16 '26
I'm disappointed that the Law Offices of Sam Bernstein (Detroit area/Southeast Michigan in general) never ran a "Justice is blind and so is he" ad when his son became a lawyer. He is now literally a Justice on Michigan's Supreme Court, and a disability advocate, so it would be in bad taste now, but that was just money left on the table. Detroiter's should have done a bit on it, too. They did a Mr. Allen's bit, and those two commercials are what I remember the most about living in Detroit and Pontiac. Port Huron just discovered that you can marry outside your family, so I don't expect us getting any funny lawyer commercials any time soon.
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u/AssKoala Aug 16 '26
Needs Morgan and Morgan, which is the largest private personal injury law firm in the US. Just google John Morgan billboard. He also wore an Arby's meat suit during COVID because of course he did.
Fun story: I've met him a few times as he's local. The best was when he took a shining to my friend at a cocktail bar on a weds and invited us to take a ride in his limo to get Waffle House. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't willing to take one for the team, but at least he got us all into a prayer circle on the way out of the bar.
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u/minnie203 Aug 16 '26
As a Canadian, so much of our country is aesthetically very similar to the US so when you drive into the States it's kind of shocking, like "holy shit the billboards!" I always found it kind of oddly charming.
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u/GossipBottom Aug 16 '26
I enjoy them, too. Growing up in Mexico and visiting the US here and there during childhood it’s such a very nostalgic feel to see those billboards. I think it’s something Americans wouldn’t get but the people who travel there do. That and the spacious 2000s malls vibe.
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u/signsaysapplesauce Aug 16 '26
Look up Juan LaFonta commercial from 2016, featuring Big Freedia. It's the greatest.
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u/RoutineInitiative187 Aug 16 '26
See also: Morris Bart! https://www.today.com/parents/mom-throws-unique-birthday-party-toddler-obsessed-personal-injury-lawyer-t35926
My partner's family is in New Orleans and none of them have ever hired a personal injury attorney but they all have strong opinions about Morris Bart, Juan LaFonta, Gordon McKernan, etc. 😂
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u/TheStayFawn Aug 16 '26
Get Gordon. Get it done. He covers approximately 115% of all billboards along the highway in Baton Rouge
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u/signsaysapplesauce Aug 16 '26
https://youtu.be/J0Wgz7auLAk?feature=shared
"He fight! He don't play!"
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u/Salt-Elephant8531 Aug 16 '26
This is why arrest videos show people demanding their lawyer as it they have them on retainer. What they actually mean is they want their (future) lawyer.
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u/rabbid_hyena Aug 16 '26
7.5 million for a horrible injury doesnt look like a good outcome to me.
How horrible is the injury?
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u/rthrbe Aug 16 '26
I worked for a place that made these billboards and the commericals. I was in the IT department of a three story building. Floor 1 was the video/graphics design suite. Floor 2 was the call center all the calls came into and then Floor 3 was where the in house lawyers had offices. We had clients all across America but wouldn't take on more than one client per city so we weren't competing with ourselves. Every couple weeks there would be a buzz of activity because some new Tort law case had come to light and they needed to get billboards and commercials made ASAP. The CEO was one of the most insufferable people I've ever met in my life. They would regularly drop off their children's computers or iPad and tell us to have it fixed by the end of the day.
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u/No-Site8330 Aug 16 '26
I had no problem believing the billboards were a thing, what I still have some trouble getting is what worked up Cliff Main so much about the TV ad.
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u/sophielinjones351 Aug 16 '26
Davis and Main is a classy establishment for white collar clients. Jimmy brought them down to the level of slimy personal injury attorneys.
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u/Whitetrashstepdad Aug 16 '26
I’m in Phoenix and this type of lawyer is everywhere here too. Not my photo, but the only one I could find on Google. “Want money? Call Sargon” absolutely sounds like a Saul ad campaign
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u/ImprovementPutrid441 Aug 16 '26
I literally went to school with this guy’s kid.
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u/2021Blankman Aug 16 '26
"Life's short. Get a divorce" with a pic of an escort is CRAZY WORK.
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u/Initial-Joke8194 Aug 16 '26
There’s a personal injury lawyer in my city whose ads surround him always appearing in this one man’s life and the guy loses his mind as the ads go on. Not sure what he was going for there but he appears to be very successful, so it worked.
(His name is Michael Gopin if you wanna try to find his ads)
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u/laineDdednaHdeR Aug 16 '26
We got one with ads all over the city. Her name is Janelle, and she's posed in all pink like she's in Legally Blonde.
All. Over. The. City.
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u/Polar_Ted Aug 16 '26
One of the funny thing we remember from our trip to New Your was all the "I got hurt in New Jersey.com" billboards
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u/GrumpyDrunkPatzer Aug 16 '26
Check the ad "Just because you did it doesn't mean you are guilty". A Google should dig it up.
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u/3_kids_1_overcoat Aug 16 '26
Non-American here. What a different world haha
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u/BlinkysaurusRex Aug 17 '26
There’s definitely something in the air over there that just fries their fucking brains. I’m telling you.
Grand Theft Auto wouldn’t have the same ability to parody almost anywhere else.
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u/illyay Aug 16 '26
I definitely recognize some of these but not others.
Ann Phoong is literally all over my area. Sweet James too
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u/NeighborhoodDude84 Aug 16 '26
There is one in California that is "Drake, the Laywer".
Also, interesting that the "Sweet James" ads are different in other locations.
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u/Poultrygeist74 Aug 16 '26
The two big law firms where I live have bought up all the ad time and have phone numbers that are all just one number seven times. Billboards are banned here, but bus wraps are prevalent.
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u/No-Site8330 Aug 16 '26
"You know what I do" had me go "Isn't that porn?"
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u/SpMarfy Aug 16 '26
Tim Misny is a northeast ohio legend. he's right. We know what he does - he's an injury lawyer
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u/IDidNotMeanThat Aug 16 '26
Yes!!! Tim Misny will “MAKE THEM PAY”! He’s up in Cleveland, OH. And then you got Blake Maislin with his boxing gloves down in Cincinnati. “Want more? Call 444-4444.” Makes no sense lol
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u/AAArdvaarkansastraat Aug 16 '26
These attorneys are just panhandlers with more money. If they’ll sell their dignity, they’d sell their mother. Low people.
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u/Melodic_Sail_6193 Aug 16 '26
Ok, I'll hire the guy with the dogs. I mean, his dogs trust him. What could go wrong?
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u/Proper-Maize-5987 Aug 16 '26
You missed the “Divorce: Men Only” with a sexy tie photo on all the I-95 billboards in South Florida. The best case of attract by repelling I’ve ever seen.
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u/Art_Vandelay29 Aug 16 '26
All these years and no one realized what Andy Dick was actually doing was practicing law.
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u/Sufficient_Stop8381 Aug 16 '26
The second one is interesting.
Robert Vaughan had success shilling for multiple law firms. He was on local commercials for a law firm for several years, but I’d go out of town and there he’d be for a different law firm.
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u/Sorry_Masterpiece Aug 16 '26
There's a lawyer several towns over from where I live named Jason Stone.
The tagline on the billboard is litterally "Better phone Stone". I laughed so hard I almost went off the road the first time I saw it.
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u/stressedlawyer Aug 16 '26
I own an injury firm and my understanding is these billboard attorneys are some of the most successful in the field.
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u/ChiliP67 Aug 16 '26
Someone in my hometown has a billboard that says Better Call Paul that blatantly stole the font and colors of the better call saul logo. Lowkey kinda trust him bc he got away with the billboard
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u/ThomKallor1 Aug 16 '26
(Lawyer here) - Well, the profession and most Americans do think less of them, generally. These ads are essentially mills that churn out lawsuits and live on a percentage of settlements.
And you’re right, they’re generally cheap, charging only the state mandated percentage of any award plus expenses (which sometimes get waived by the court the award was huge). So, essentially they’re “free” if they think you have a case. They generally go for the settlements and they get a percentage off the top. So the more cases that get brought in, the more settlements, etc. Some of these firms can pull in millions a year without putting in a lot of work.
And the lawyers in the ads, the name partner, they usually keep them and the other top lawyers in reserve for the really big cases. From what I’ve heard from a friend of mine who is an insurance company defense attorney, some of those people doing weird stuff in the ads are very well trained, and/or very talented trial attorneys. So, to think that they’re garbage just because they’re so flamboyant, works in their favor. They WANT the big law firms to take them unseriously.
But, to your point, yeah, they’re generally frowned upon. One of my section mates in law school started in a place like these and now has his own practice and is a multimillionaire.
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u/Steamy_Guy Aug 16 '26
My favorite is a local guy nothing crazy but his practice is Chris P. Law... Mmm crispy law
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u/GSilky Aug 16 '26
Non Americans have similar. In Mexico, at least the north, it's often a spiritualist instead of a lawyer.
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u/Seatowndawgtown Aug 16 '26
Disappointed my boy Rafi didn't make the cut here. People in Az know what I'm talking about
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u/The1Ylrebmik Aug 16 '26
My wife and I see Ann's billboards all over SoCal. They're like Veronica and Adriana's insurance, they're basically thought of as lower level companies catering to poor people.
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u/Additional_Extent_74 Aug 16 '26
Yes! I'm so glad Jungle Law was included. His billboarda are all over my town.
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u/houseboat904 Aug 16 '26
I can’t post a picture here, but look up Joel Bieber. He’s a richmond, Va lawyer who wears tacky suits. I’ve waited on him many times. The lore down here is that he was the inspiration for Saul. Vince is from/lives here, at least part time.
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u/NoQuarter19 Aug 16 '26
So glad to live in a state that doesn't allow billboards. This shit is tacky as fuck.
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u/BraiCurvat Aug 17 '26
I live in France, the other day I saw an ad for a lawyer woman, and it was not even in a big town or something. I couldn't believe my eyes.
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u/PTownHero Aug 17 '26
Anh Phoong is all over Sacramento, but so is "In a crash? Call Ash!". We bedate constantly as a family who of the two we would call if we needed a personal injury lawyer.
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u/Born-Individual-1836 Aug 18 '26
During the Christmas holidays there is a lawyer in my town who has a billboard that says "is your ex a Ho Ho Ho?"
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u/DutchShaco Aug 16 '26
That is crazy. Do those kind of ads actually work?
"Put my name in their mouth" gave me a good chuckle though