...The ad, sponsored by a Chicago divorce lawyer, Corri Fetman, was meant to remind unhappy, restless or bored spouses that they have other options, some quite attractive. “The message is, if you’re unhappy, do something about it,” Ms. Fetman said. “It’s really no different than a motivational book that says, ‘Live the best life you can — be happy.’ ”... ...The billboard had been up scarcely a week before it was ordered removed last week by Alderman Burton Natarus. He said it was not the content of the ad — Mr. Natarus is known for his affection for the outlandish — but because the ad company hired by Ms. Fetman had violated a Chicago cardinal rule: It had not gone through proper channels at City Hall to get a permit.
Ms. Fetman isn’t about to back down. “We’re not going to stop,” she said. “In fact, we’re getting ready to do more racy photos.”
The billboard made some divorce lawyers here wince, according to Kimberly J. Anderson, a top official with the Chicago Bar Association. “Some of my colleagues thought it was sleazy,” she said. “We’ve got a bad enough reputation as it is, you know, without downgrading it even more.”
But Ms. Anderson saw nothing unethical about it. “She has a right to advertise in the way she sees fit.”
Still, the in-your-face add was enough to get Jeffrey Leving, a prominent Chicago lawyer, huffing with indignation. He said the ad surely persuaded some married people to shop around. “It’s a cheap stunt that encourages recreational sex, sport sex,” said Mr. Leving, who specializes in father’s rights. “Lawyers have a lot of power to decide whether a marriage ends in divorce or not. People who are thinking about getting a divorce are very vulnerable.”
It wasn’t by accident, he said, that Ms. Fetman picked the Rush Street district for her billboard. “I know the Viagra triangle,” he said. “That’s what goes on there. I’ve represented clients in paternity cases that started in those clubs.”
It has not gone unnoticed that Ms. Fetman, 43, is a striking blonde who could play the part of temptress. A native of the Chicago area, she describes herself as “happily divorced.” She said people do not need to make excuses for wanting to get divorced. She scoffs at the notion that married people will glimpse the hot bodies in her ads and suddenly ditch their spouses. “By the time somebody calls us,” she said, “they’ve either got somebody, or they’d like to find somebody.”
David Blankenhorn, the president of the Institute for American Values, a New York-based research group that advocates on family issues, described the billboard as “clever, but a lie.” The ad campaign can try to make divorce seem more appealing, he said, but it’s still a raw deal for children. He likened it to commercials for cars or beer that imply that buying a certain product will bring happiness.
“The truth is, for most people, divorce means tragedy, suffering and pain,” he said.
But he acknowledged that Ms. Fetman is on to something. Her message taps into a deep cultural notion that the path to renewal lies in breaking away and moving on. “It’s a classic American theme, from the revolution to Huck Finn and Jack Kerouac,” he said. “It’s part of the reason this country has such high divorce rates.”...
