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Wicked backs down in row over ‘sexist and misogynistic’ slogans

chuck norris wicked camperWicked Campers has pledged to remove controversial slogans from the side of its vans following protests from a lobby group led by a Sydney school teacher.

John Webb, owner of the publicity-hungry campervan firm, said it will remove slogans, that have been branded sexist and misogynistic, over the next six months.

One reads: “In every princess there’s a little slut who wants to try it just once’, while another says ‘Women are like banks. Once you withdraw you lose interest’.

The slogans, which have seen the company scolded on several occasions by the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) including two new rulings this week, sparked outrage with teacher Paula Orbea drawing up a Change.org petition with 110,000 signatures.

Orbea, who claimed the slogans are degrading to women, harmful  to children and “condones a rape culture”, said she received an email and apology from Webb.

According to Orbea, Webb has pledged to “to acknowledge the prevailing community opinion by removing  the slogan in question and making a commitment over the coming six months to changing slogans of an insensitive nature”.

The petition and subsequent media attention, with the story receiving more than 150 mentions in the media this week, have succeeded where the ASB have failed for the past seven years by getting the brand to self-censor.

Steve Jones

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