Wicked Campers banned by ad watchdog for 79th time
Wicked Campers has had one of its vans banned by Ad Standards which marks the 79th upheld complaint since 2012 for the rental van company.
Tasmania, ACT and Queensland have now already passed laws to deregister Wicked Vans if the company does not abide by ASB rulings.
A similar illustration to that on the Wicked Campers van. Source: TeePublic
A spokesperson from the Ad Standards told Mumbrella the vehicle in question was registered in South Australia.
The 79th van to be banned by Ad Standards was painted similarly to a Dr Suess book and featured a caricature of Walter White from Breaking Bad with the words “Mr White can make BLUE, can you?”.
A complaint said the van is offensive as it is “glamorising drug use and the manufacturing of illegal substances that have destroyed families and killed individuals by their use”.
Ad Standards said the reference to Mr White and ‘blue’ drew parallels to the Breaking Bad series in which White makes blue crystal meth.
“The advertisement would have a clear message in support of drug manufacturing to people who were aware of the show, or to anyone who looked up the references on the vehicle.
“The Panel considered that trivialising the important issue of drug use in a format that would be attractive to is a depiction of material that is contrary to prevailing community standards on health and safety.”
Upholding the complaint, Ad Standards said because of the illustration, which is set out in a similar format to a Dr Sesuss book, the van would be “attractive” to children.
Wicked Campers did not provide any response to the complaint or ruling.
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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“Both Tasmania, ACT and Queensland”
Both all three 🙂
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Imagine being offended by a van driving past you.
Arghhh, the world we live, where people look for a reason to be offended and complain.
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Thanks David, we’ve fixed that. It appears Dr Mumbo hit the gin bottle way too early today.
Yes, imagine. https://youtu.be/5R7s5JBz19U
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Imagine typing this and not even seeing the irony.
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I fully understand the irony champ.
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Imagine choosing to support a few moments of ‘humour’ in crass ‘jokes’ over contributing to a society built on respect for other people.
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What Zoe said
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