‘A disgrace to women’: Another ‘exploitative’ Wicked Campers van banned
Van rental company Wicked Campers has had one if its ads banned yet again for showing “exploitative”, “degrading”, violent and insensitive material.
Registered in South Australia, the van in question said: “if you want to toughen up grow a vagina – those things can really take a pounding” on its rear.
Another Wicked Campers Van
A complaint posting to Ad Standards said: “Self explanatory – a disgrace to women”.
While Wicked Campers did not provide a response to the complaint or ruling, the company has had its advertisements banned more than 80 times since 2012.
The ad watchdog said although the van didn’t suggest unfair treatment of gender, it did reference sex and contained some level of sexual appeal.
“The reference to vaginas taking a pounding identifies a part of a woman’s body and equates it to a sexualised object, and in the panel’s view this amounts to a depiction which is exploitative.”
In addition to this, the board said the reference to vaginas and sex was violent and inappropriate.
“The advertisement portrayed violence in a way which was not justifiable in the context of the product or service advertised.”
The ad watchdog also noted that Wicked Campers didn’t treat the issue of sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity.
In a bid to discourage Wicked Campers from crass advertising, Tasmania, ACT and Queensland have now already passed laws to deregister Wicked Vans if the company does not abide by ASB rulings.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Sorry, I’m possibly responsible for this. My original quote was “Why do people say “grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.” It was meant to be empowering. Sorry again.
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I guess degrading people in this companys eyes makes for an attraction to there vehicles, maybe anti bullying logos are the more sensible way to go.
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Is it so hard to have sense of humour. Political correctness is wrecking our country.
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Wicked Campers should have been shut down years ago.
If I recall, most of their vans were found to be grossly unroadworthy.
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Your an idiot rod, those vehicles logo’s suck.
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^ Can confirm. I hired one years ago & the wheel came off the axel as we were driving down the freeway!
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