Ad watchdog slams Wicked Campers’ Chuck Norris blow job message as ‘demeaning and degrading to women’
Australia’s most badly behaved advertiser has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Board two more times.
Wicked Campers – which no longer even responds to complaints to the ASB about the slogans painted on its vehicles and messages used in its advertising – has had two more findings against it.
The two messages painted on vans were: “I’m straight, don’t rear end me!” and “If you’ve ever met a woman with crooked teeth, you’ve met a woman who has given Chuck Norris a blow job”.
A complaint about the first said the message was “blatantly homophobic, heterosexist, and sexist”.
A complaint about the blow job message said it was disgusting and objectifying.
The ASB ruled on the rear end complaint: “in the Board’s view the most likely interpretation is that the advertisement is making a statement to the gay community regarding unwanted sexual advances. The Board considered that the advertisement portrays homosexuality in a negative light and that this is discriminatory towards homosexuals.”
On the Chuck Norris van, the ASB said: “In the Board’s view the advertisement uses a sexual reference in a manner which is demeaning and degrading to women.
“The Board noted the link made between crooked teeth and blow jobs and considered that the advertisement could be interpreted to suggest that a woman has crooked teeth as a result of a violent sexual act or as a result of violence following a sexual act. The Board considered that to imply violence in this manner is not justifiable in the context of the product advertised.”
Wicked Campers has had a string of complaints upheld against it over the last few years. However, because unlike most advertisers, Wicked’s messages appear mainly on its own media, the ASB – a voluntary industry body – has little ability to make Wicked comply with its rulings. The ASB said it was in talks with Queensland Police.
Meanwhile, Wicked Campers is currently offering a promotion on its website of a discount for stoned drug users.
this is one of the most effective marketing exercises in years. A classic example of the business rewards to be had when you set out to please your core audience, and don’t give a damn who else you offend or disenfranchise.
compare this to the lame efforts that ‘proper’ youth brands put into the market, and you can see why all those years later, we still point to FCUK as a high water mark for effectively targeting a youthful audience seeking a little rebellious spirit in their brands.
Sure this stuff is crude, insensitive, sometimes sexist and often just plain wrong. Which means it perfectly reflects the attitudes and aspirations of a young person who thinks that living out of a small camper van for a couple of months sounds like a shitload of fun (which it is btw)
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If the Wicked campers owners can look at themselves in the mirror every morning then good luck to them. I personally wouldn’t want to run a business that makes people grimace when they hear the name, but fortunately we live in a society where being offensive and crude is usually not a crime. Perhaps at some point in the future when their kids don’t get invited to birthday parties they’ll realise they can get just as much attention by writing clever slogans rather than offensive ones the operators will grow up. In the meantime enjoy your cash.
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“Wicked Campers – which no longer even responds to complaints to the ASB”
If only more clients would grow these sorts of large, hairy balls instead of pandering to the inane and imagined slights of Mr and Mrs Johnny Conservative.
Keep on truckin’, Wicked Campers.
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@very clever
FCUK pfffffffffft. You must be in your 30’s…?
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Billy, there is no “right to not be offended”. If Wicked are operating within the law, then yay. If not, then sanctions can be applied. The “I don’t like them, so I’m banning it” crowd can yell all they like, but they can just deal with it.
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Seriously I think these campers are hilarious. People need to stop taking things so bloody seriously all the time. You’re not going to survive long in the world if things like this offend you. Grow a pair! Or in the words of the movie Zombieland “nut up or shut up”!
There are worse things than an offensive joke, sheesh. If you’d get half as pissed off about homelessness, world hunger et al then the world would be a better place.
And besides, advertising is there to sell shit to people who might like that shit. If you don’t like that shit, don’t buy that shit. It’s really very simple. /rant
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I always have a laugh when I read a Wicked Camper van slogan.
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doh!
the brand name is “Wicked Campers” and they graffitti teen snigger jokes on the the back of their own campers. Hits the target market and keeps their advertising budget in check (i bet it beats bus backs…). Not one of the 6 letters of complaint to the ASB that usually have the corporates, crappin’ in their pants and pulling their entire campaign would ever go “wicked”. It is genius.
Miikey C
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More power to Wicked Campers. Who on earth are the advertising standards board anyway, except a phone number for people who aren’t articulate enough to be put through on 3AW.
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