How Law School Advertising Made Me Feel Like A Fish In A Barrel

As a law student, I’m exposed to tons of advertising every time I go to class. Final exam prep, bar prep, secret tips that are apparently necessary to get the grades and jobs that we’re all supposed to be striving for. The pitch always implies that the customer victim is working as hard as possible, but can’t make it to Legal Valhalla without hundreds, even thousands of dollars of additional help.The ads pit us against each other. Even the students who already score A’s must feel a little uneasy in this environment. On top of the posters, the magazines, and the flyers in our mailboxes, we also have to suffer the indignity of being pitched to by our own peers, the “student reps” for the prep companies. I’ve gotten e-mails and Facebook messages reminding me to buy, and even the law school “newsletter” doubles as an advertisement. Here’s an example that particularly bothered me:

6. 2Ls Must Lock-In their Bar/Bri Rate:All 2Ls who signed up for Bar/Bri last year (as a 1L) must ensure that their deposit is at the required level in order to keep their 2006 lock -in price. Visit the Bar/Bri table to get the status of your account. If necessary, deposits must be increased by October 31, 2007 in order to keep your 2006 price.

The law school not only gives these companies unlimited access to my peers and me, but the school itself is telling me that I must remember to pay up? Something seriously smells here. Am I supposed to feel better that none of the companies have my e-mail address when my own institution does their marketing for them?

Getting a brochure or two is no big deal, I suppose — although the school hasn’t implemented a decent recycling program — but it rubs me the wrong way that I’ve been involuntarily positioned as a fish in a barrel. And it works, it works amazingly well. Anecdotally, most of the other students I know have bought into Bar/Bri or some similar program. They also think I’m crazy not to – which is exactly what the posters have been telling them.

I’ve already marked “no advertising, please” on my mail folder, but I’d like to do more. I was inspired earlier today by a post on joshspear.com about YouAreBeautiful. YouAreBeautiful seeks to replace advertising and other trappings of commerce with a positive message that everyone can enjoy: you are beautiful. They send out free stickers to help the project along, but people have taken on more ambitious missions on their own, even billboards. It’s going to take some work, but I think the law school environment is crying out for some YouAreBeautiful-style assistance.

How do you think everyone would react if, instead of seeing messages about how helpless we are, we just saw a simple affirmation that even future lawyers are allowed to feel ok about themselves? I want to find out. First step: placing an item in the newsletter. It’ll only need to be three words.

Have you been in a similar situation? What other fun tactics should I try to shake things up?