‘Every time you masturbate God kills a kitten’ Wicked Campers van deemed inappropriate by ad watchdog
Wicked Campers has had yet another one if its vans banned by the ad watchdog, this time for using the phrase “every time you masturbate God kills a kitten” on the back of a vehicle.
A complaint to Ad Standards said: “God does not Kill . It is slandering people’s God . It is a gross misrepresentstion [sic] of religion . It is private sex talk that shouldn’t be on cars for a start.”
Another Wicked Campers van
Registered in Western Australia, the van was deemed as inappropriate and banned for not treating the issue of sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity.
Despite the complaint, Ad Standards found the van didn’t discriminate against or vilify any religion as the “phrase is clearly satire and reasonable members of the community would not interpret it as fact”.
Ad Standards did however say that the word ‘masturbate’ isn’t appropriate language when used in the context of a slogan on the back of a van.
The ad watchdog subsequently upheld the complaint.
In September, Wicked Campers had three vans banned in just one month.
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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And again, who would want to actually be seen in one of these? It is frightening to think there are morons out there who feel they have to prove they are one.
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Brilliant pr
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A complaint to Ad Standards said: “God does not Kill . It is slandering people’s God . It is a gross misrepresentstion [sic] of religion . It is private sex talk that shouldn’t be on cars for a start.”
Sounds eerily similar to the 200+ comments that flooded Mumbrella last week over that organ donation campaign.
Neither are good examples of marketing, but it irks me to see a fundamentalist minority getting their way because they happen to be the noisiest.
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Clearly, every time someone runs a story about this, they get the publicity they want. Not sure why you bother. Also, who cares about this particular slogan? It’s not offensive, unless you actually think masturbation is offensive.
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Wicked Campers – the van for all-comers.
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…..reference the aforementioned 200+ pro-Christian comments on the organ donation article…
There would certainly be a few repressed non-‘bators in that thread!
Also, on that topic – Im thinking that many comments has to be some kind of record for Mumbrella?
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Please, Mumbrella, just stop publishing stories about this company and giving them the publicity they crave so they can save on marketing and advertising costs.
Ignore them – really, they’re a non-entity in their industry.
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“When Moses grows up, he’s told by God to command Pharaoh to let the Jews go. Pharaoh says no, and God sets out to convince him by way of the Ten Plagues. As the story goes, during the tenth and final plague, God passes through the land of Egypt and strikes down the firstborn of every household. But the Jews have been told to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb they’ve sacrificed — the Passover offering — and so God “passes over” their homes.” Sounds like a killer to me.
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Hi Carolyn,
We’re aware of the company’s objective of getting publicity through these rulings. However the ongoing problem with Wicked Campers’ adverting, and that of certain other brands, is an industry issue which we’d be remiss not to cover. We do try to strike a balance between reporting what has happened and not giving them free publicity.
Regards,
Paul Wallbank
News Editor