Law Firm Pulls 9/11 Ad Portraying ‘I Was There’ Firefighter Who Wasn’t There
An ad touting a law firm’s Sept. 11 compensation expertise has been pulled after protests by a firefighter who was embarrassed by its assertion that he was one of the responders.
Robert Keiley, who moonlights as a model, didn’t become a fireman until 2004, but the ad suggests he was on the scene during the 2001 terrorist attacks. “I was there,” the ad reads. “And now, Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern is there for me.”
Keiley says he was holding a helmet when he posed for the photo, but it was replaced with a photo of the destroyed World Trade Center. He told the New York Post he thought he was posing for a fire prevention ad, but the law firm’s ad agency, Barker/DZP, said the release he signed doesn’t restrict use of the photo, including alterations.
Barker/DZP issued an apology and announced the ad will not run again, according to CNN and an update by the New York Post. The agency said it was unaware that Keiley was an actual firefighter, and the law firm was not involved in the photo selection.
Worby Groner senior partner Marc Bern told the New York Post that the law firm did nothing wrong. “It was all appropriate, due to the release signed by [Keiley],” he said. “We are trying to help the victims of 9/11.”
