Wicked Campers falls foul of ASB again for ‘get out ya tits’ slogan
Wicked Campers has again fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) over the slogan “Get out ya tits and we’ll call it quits” painted on one of its vehicles which was deemed not relevant to the product being promoted.
The van featured a painted image of a woman on each side, one with her breasts exposed and the words “Pussy Cat” printed next to her, while the other slogan was painted on the back of the van.
A complaint to to the board read: “Besides the topless portrait??? Isn’t “Get out your tits or we’ll call it quits” enough? I think that’s pretty inflammatory as a breast-feeding mother”
Wicked Campers no longer responds to complaints to the ASB, which was noted by the board during the ruling.
The brand has previously been censured by the ASB for a Chuck Norris blowjob message, a pot smoking promo, “it’s better to be black than gay“, encouraging killing kangaroos, a menstrual cycle joke and snogging an aboriginal.
The board dismissed the complainant’s concerns that the ad was offensive to women who are breastfeeding, noting “although the drawing included naked breasts, there was no suggestion of breastfeeding”.
However, it did rule that there was “no relevance between the use of a bare chested woman and the hire of a campervan and that in connection with the word ‘pussycat’ and the text on the rear of the vehicle ‘get out your tits and we’ll call it quits’ did amount to an image that did not treat sex/sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience”.
The complaint was upheld.
I think the more concerning aspect of all this is not the advertising itself, but the people who want to be seen in and around these vans.
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They’re right, there is no relevance to breastfeeding mothers. I understand being more sensitive about that area of the body while you’re doing it but still..
I just think it’s a cheap statement that clearly signals who their target market is, Idiotic backpacker types who think it’s funny.
Moronic but not a surprising move for Wicked, they clearly don’t care about much.
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Actually the reality is most of the people renting these vehicles don’t speak English. The slogans wouldn’t matter to them because they wouldn’t notice them. More to the point is the question of why you would want to drive around Australia in such an old crappy and unsafe vehicle. They’re not cheap.
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I’d be more worried about the wheels falling off or the brakes failing than any puerile stupidity written on it.
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Perfect marketing strategy for the target market.
If see one when I’m on the road, I immediately shift to ‘defensive driving’. Not only because its most likely driven by a moron, but also because these vehicles appear to be maintained to the lowest possible mechanical standard, if at all.
Every time the ASB tries to censure them, they just feed into Wicked Campers’ marketing plan. I wonder if the level of offensiveness will escalate.
Maybe one of these should replace George Brandis’ Comcar.
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Most backpackers are only interested in beer and sex, so in many ways the message is bang on target.
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Perhaps we could just have a way of immediately cancelling the tourist visa of any genius that is seen happily driving around in one of these offensive death traps.
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How is it that ‘Wicked Campers’ are still on the road anyway? Wasn’t there a report recently about ‘un-roadworthy vehicles right across their fleet? Look out Backpackers!
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@punter – backbackers dont speak english? ha!
where do you think backpackers are from??? some tribal village in the amazon!?
EVERYONE speaks english! especially young adventurous europeans! they prob speak it better than us.
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@erm – it seems you may have not have had a lot to do with people who speak English as a second language. They might hold their own in a TOEFL exam, in terms of grammar and dictionary based vocabulary, but when it comes to the Australian vernacular they have a lot to learn when they first arrive. For example: do you know how to say knob jockey in your second language?
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OH PLEASE!!!!! Seeking the moral high ground has become so bleeding obvious in recent times, but claiming the hallowed estate of “breast feeding mother” or even wet nurse, is laughable given the millions of examples of breasts being employed to promote everything from rat traps to jumbo jets, from sandwich spread to fur coats.
Oliver Goldsmith, and others, long ago recognised stooping to conquer as a comedic device. This example would require stooping low enough to crawl under a Persian rug unnoticed whilst wearing with a top hat.
The slogan is Crass in the extreme, tasteless and irrelevant , irrelevant that is unless you happen to be moronic or courser than a hoof rasp. Which seems to be about the level at which the ad is pitched. I don’t know, perhaps it is.
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Apology and corrections.
Strike “with” in “whilst wearing a top hat” and of course I meant Coarser.
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