A drive along Interstate 95 in Philadelphia is essentially a billboard tour of personal injury law firms, all using the city’s most stereotypical catchphrases to corner the market on misfortune.
About a year ago, Philadelphia Magazine’s Tom McGrath counted 30 different billboards for personal injury lawyers along the I-95 corridor. The industry’s marketing budgets have enabled firms to blitz highway billboards, radio airwaves and SEPTA buses with ads that plant the seeds of striking it rich with a lawsuit.
Amid the usual suspects on I-95 — Pond Lehocky, Morgan & Morgan, TopDog and Krasno, Krasno & Onwudinjo, to name a few — there’s now a satirical billboard advertising Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street in Center City. Bar owners Fergus Carey and Jim McNamara tower above the highway at Wildey and Columbia streets in Fishtown, pointing toward motorists with stern expressions on their faces.
“Injured?” the billboard says. “Do not call these guys. They’re not even lawyers. They actually own a bar!”…