Divorce lawyer ad: "Life's short. Get a divorce." (and pecs/tits)

Chicago divorce attorneys Fetman, Garland, and Associates ran this "Life's short. Get a divorce." billboard until a local alderman found a pretext to tear it down.

A city alderman who lives nearby found a technical reason to jettison the sign.
"I called the building inspector and told him to do his job and he did," said Alderman Burton Natarus. "It has nothing to do with content or anything else. They did not have a permit and they were ordered to take it down."
Fetman and Garland say they're upset the sign was removed.
"They ripped our billboard down without due process," Fetman said. "We own that art. I feel violated."

fgalawfirm.com: Life's short. Get a divorce (via Sociological Images)

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mdh

So you’d commit an act of vandalism in order to protect idiots?

The non-permitted sign is the act of vandalism.

and the signs maker was no Shepherd Fairey.
zuzu

Divorce, Life is short, so you might as well make a mess of it. If you NEED a divorce? thats cool. If you WANT a divorce that makes you an asshole. Having a long term relationship takes effort.

Me-ow, feel the claws of the monogamists!

You all remind me of another righteous-indignation group who’d say the same thing about choosing to have an abortion.

I’m siding with the “I’m not sorry” crowd, on both counts.

And personally, I think the government should get out of the marriage license racket completely; no need for divorce lawyers then, and no more Prop 8 bullshit either.
Patrick Dodds

@10: if a billboard tips you over the edge, save your money for brain surgery.
mikefinch

OHHH NOES! the big bad people found a LEGAL and GOOD reason to take the sign down. She can go and apply for a permit just like the rest of us.

Divorce, Life is short, so you might as well make a mess of it. If you NEED a divorce? thats cool. If you WANT a divorce that makes you an asshole. Having a long term relationship takes effort.

The secrets to a happy marriage? communicate, and keep your dick in your pants.
Bonnie

Art, eh?
phillamb168

@13 These are probably the same people who decide to watch that new reality TV show because they saw it on a billboard…
blueelm

Am I supposed to feel bad for the lawyers? I hate most billboards. This one is no exception, and if there was no permit than yay! Am I supposed to like this billboard because it uses sexual imagery, as opposed to beer ads, or blue jeans, or watches, or…?
mdh

A sign suggesting you void a contract before entering into shenanigans was erected… without a permit?

Oh, the huge mammaries.
mikefinch

@24 –

Hey – people do this with pets alllll the time. Adopt a dog, then when its not a puppy anymore and its not cute they put it up for adoption. That makes you an asshole who didn’t think of the consequences or responsibilities involved in a relationship.

why would you stand there and take an oath to love and care for another for all time (because that is a phrase involved in most wedding ceremonies) When you don’t fully intend to honor that oath?

If you want to be polyamorous then go hard, but ill tell you right now that the idea of multiple lovers and marriage doesn’t fit together well with western laws or common traditions.

If your relationship can no longer function then you should get a divorce. If you just stopped liking the person then maybe you shouldn’t have been married in the first place.

But hey – you can go do what you want. Its your life and your money. Or at least half of your money…
Samurai Gratz

You stay classy, FGA.
wormbaby

Ummm I have to agree with the first poster. I live in Hyde Park and this story is at least 2 years old. I am also a former city hall employee who was investigated by our kind inspector general. This is the least controversial Chicago polotics story around!
rawbacon2

@24 So true, why does the state need to be involved. It’s either love or not.
glitchveggie

My three cents:

1) I too find the billboard distasteful, but I don’t see any reason for it to be illegal EXCEPT -
2) If it was taken down for legitimate reasons, then that was legal regardless of the prosecutor’s reasons for doing so.

@ JArmstrong

3) Amagad hawt lawyer O_O I must fling roses and boxes of chocolates while running away screaming.
Anonymous

It’s so funny to hear people say that a billboard about religion is worse than this crap.

People=sad

The best would be if that freak-boobed lawyer got divorced while she was in love with her husband…boo-ya, that would be a sweet score for Karma.

Also, someone should have a better billboard saying “Life is too short, get good lawyers”
Halloween Jack

Frankly, this sounds like the kind of story where everyone loses, both Alderman Nitpick and Chesty McJuggs, Esq. Moving right along.
fataltourist

@phillamb168
I still don’t understand your rage about this silly billboard. I’m more offended by billboards advertising sodas that cause you to end up with type 2 diabetes, or ones promoting religion.
There are plenty of billboards, ads, t-shirts, YouTube videos, etc. containing stupid crap (that encourages idiocy). It would be a full time job to go around and protect the idiots.
Anonymous

So, if you use the law firm to get a divorce, Ms. Fetman will have sex with you?
J France

I’d like to know what sort of marroons #8 & #11 are cavorting around town with.

You know people who might be swayed by a billboard to get a divorce? You can imagine this individual?

I think there are enough divorces and people well-aware they need them to keep the lawyers’ market rolling, I doubt this would convince anyone not already thinking about it pretty seriously.
Anonymous

I think I heard the same slogan on Sirius 101 recently. It catchy and you know what they say about Divorce it cost a fortune but it worth it! lolll
Rotwang

I don’t know who’s the bigger liar in this case.
Itsumishi

I find the billboard above pretty distasteful.

However I find this even worse.
Anonymous

This story is 2 years old. Burt Natarus lost his seat to Brendan Reilly in 2007.
Enoch_Root

BoingBoing doesn’t always strive for consistency… but as the website that got me to add http://antiadvertisingagency.com/ to my RSS I am surprised at their newfound love of illegal advertising.

Now the alderman in question is probably a jerk… there are several in Chicago politics but the sign was illegal even if it was funny/sexy/anti-establishment/lame/whatever.

Now if we want to get into the realm of government demanding licensing for everything private citizens to on/with private property then that is a whole ‘nother can of worms.
Hamish MacDonald

“But we own the art!”

Great. Hang it in your own house, lawyers :/
mgfarrelly

I’m in Chicago, this story dates from a couple years back actually.

It does have a happy ending though. Burt Natarus was defeated in 2007, in large part because of stunts like this one, as well as something of a combative relationship with the press and organized labor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Natarus
phillamb168

@FatalTourist Well, I’m pretty much anti-billboard 100% of the time. They encourage rapid decision-making, which I think is rather a bad idea; they’re HUGE light polluters (I challenge you to see anything more than Polaris along any stretch of highway at night); and they just clutter up what might normally be a nice landscape.

I think what really bothers me is that this particular billboard is encouraging irresponsible, childish behavior. While I would not describe my feelings as “rage,” I do tend to get a bit bothered by this sort of thing. For example, I feel just as annoyed/saddened for the Human race when I see advertisements for the latest “Who wants to marry a celebrity extreme bear attack pop idol survivor housemate in the Real World” TV show.

I’m a realist, so I understand that these sorts of things have been around -forever- and won’t be going away. I also understand there are plenty of people who will see this billboard and laugh it off as the absurdity that it is. However, what does it hurt to encourage a bit of critical thinking and application of wisdom?
JArmstrong

Yes, this story is a bit dated.

I’ve met Ms. Fetman a couple of times and was quite taken with her overt sexuality. Here is a link to a pic of her: http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/48/30/corri_fetman.0.0.0×0.302×454.jpeg
zuzu

Indeed, Corri Fetman has also posed for Playboy. Good for her.

Here’s more pics of her in public (safe for work) with the ad in question: 1, 2, 3, 4
highlyverbal

“pretext”?

“technical reason”?

In my book, not having a permit to post a giant billboard is a totally legit reason to tear it down. Tearing down rogue giant billboards is a great idea! I also don’t mind when city officials choose to paint over random graffiti or repair vandalism.

“without due process”?

What is the essential due process for ripping down billboards without permits that was neglected? Doesn’t this make the law firm sound a bit …. melodramatic? Are we really expected to swallow all their claims uncritically?

=========

I am cynical enough to know there might be shenanigans going on, but I’m sorry, I need a little more supporting evidence. Well, ANY evidence.
Rajio

If the sign was illegal (no permit) then whats the story here? Seems perfectly fair to me. but then again I’m in Toronto, home of http://illegalsigns.ca/
Billy

Divorce and hand drying – http://www.flickr.com/photos/newfolder/2459210218/
mgfarrelly

Some more Burt Natarus for you, he’s something of punchline, going above and beyond the crazy, even for a Chicago politician.

Threatening voicemails to journalists
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/08/burt_natarus_fi.html

A pretty good compilation of his career hijinks, such as diapers for horses, trying to abolish parasailing on Lake Michigan and ordinances mandating newspaper box size.
http://www.b12partners.net/mt/archives/2005/05/natarus_greates.html

Over the years I heard him on local radio from time to time. Natarus has a reedy voice and tends to get very worked up about minutae. He’s likely going to be writing scathing letters to the editor until the very end.
phillamb168

Not to sound like a prude or anything, but anybody who gets a divorce just because “life’s too short” is an idiot.

I’m glad the sign got removed – if it had been near -my- building I’d have done a little civil disobedience and ripped it down myself.

Ugh.
fataltourist

So you’d commit an act of vandalism in order to protect idiots?
Itsumishi

Yep, also in the I hate billboards campaign.

To me they’re like shitty vandalism, except paid for by companies that have too much money to begin with.

They’re massive, 95% of them are ugly as hell, they’re light polluters and the vast majority of the time they’re advertising products or companies I hate.
phillamb168

@#9 FatalTourist Just because you’re an idiot doesn’t mean you need to be encouraged to act like an idiot. If you’re thinking about getting a divorce and a -billboard- is what tips you over the edge, it sounds like your money might be better spent on marriage counselors, especially if you have kids.
Anonymous

Yeah, I’ve got to agree that the ad itself is pretty sad. To me, it is saying “there are people out there who are better looking than your spouse, so maybe you should be shallow and go after them instead”

@ #22, WOW, that is unbelievable. The people behind that want to “cause havoc”?! So…they are knowingly creating false arguments in a world where it’s already increasingly uncommon for a couple to stay together. That is wonderful.
GeekMan

#8: Can’t agree more.

I certainly don’t make it my business to render judgments about people’s lifestyle choices. But then, that’s what the sign is doing: “Hey, are you still with your husband/wife of 20 years? What a drag! Putting the effort into a lasting, long-term relationship with a soulmate simply isn’t worth the trouble. Break your partner’s heart and mess up your kids’ lives so you can run around and screw hotties.”

Right.