Wicked Campers is showing up the Ad Standards Board
Following more rulings against Wicked Campers by the Ad Standards Board last week Alex Hayes asks whether the company will give up their shock tactic advertising any time soon.
I’m thinking of writing a complaint to the Ad Standards Board about Wicked Campers.
I’ve just been on a week’s holiday in a camper van in North Queensland, and I saw one of their vans there which had the slogan “How wars start: Politicians lie to journalists, then believe what’s read in newspapers” on the back.
Of course I’m joking. But it’s obviously pretty fashionable to have a crack at the Brisbane-based camper hire company, which has had 31 complaints against slogans on its vans upheld in the last six years, seven in the last four weeks alone. For the record it has had 22 complaints dismissed in the same time span.
Its not just journalists and politicians they don’t mind offending. There’s fat girls, aboriginal people, breast feeding mothers and gay people to name but a few. It does like to lionise Chuck Norris though.
Whenever we run these stories we get the odd commenter saying we’re playing into Wicked’s hands by reporting the fact they’ve been pulled up again by giving them more publicity.
I’m not so sure this is true.
Sure the idea is to get attention for the vans, and the big cartoon pictures of Shaggy from Scooby Doo smoking a reefer or the one I had the pleasure of camping next to one night, a particularly disturbing Bad Acid trip with Mickey Mouse’s face peeling away, do that in spades.
But a quick search on Wicked Campers on Google will return a heap of articles from Mumbrella and a few other sources like the Courier Mail and Sydney Morning Herald, as well as some less than flattering reviews on things like TripAdvisor. Not necessarily great PR for a brand which is aiming at naive, young and more often than not foreign travellers looking to bomb around Australia as cheaply as possible.
Wicked isn’t alone in emblazoning its vans with all sorts of branding. Jucy for one use phrases like “This Choppa camper is perfect for two, great for three and a party for four” on their vans now. Hardly scandalous, but eye catching nonetheless. And why not, they’re free billboards driving around towns, cities and rainforests all across the country.
But in the crowded market Wicked stands apart. This is bold advertising of the type we are constantly being told there is not enough of. Here we have a company willing to take risks, to be talked about, and to draw attention to itself in some pretty outlandish ways. And at the same time sell a promise of a hedonistic lifestyle their target market are after in a language and style they can identify with.
You only need to have a look at the Wicked Campers Facebook page, which last year ran into controversy after offering discounts to heavy weed smokers. It obviously didn’t deter them, they’re currently offering discounts in May for anyone who tells them they’re “hung like a donkey”, male or female.
The problem Wicked have is they too often seem to cross the line of what’s acceptable in a relatively sealed off online environment like Facebook, and what people want their kids seeing as they drive along the road. You can click away form a Facebook page. But you don’t have that luxury with outdoor ads when you’re stuck in a traffic jam behind one of these vans.
Even people renting their vans aren’t necessarily fans of the decor. One traveller I asked about it said he had been let down by another rental company and Wicked was the only other one he could afford for his trip. Another pair said they had chosen purely on price, understandable for cash-strapped travellers.
Despite the public approbation, led it seems by Christian groups, and constant wraps on the knuckles from the ASB Wicked don’t look like they will be changing tactics anytime soon. They don’t even bother responding to the ASB rulings any more, and don’t modify or change ads that have been ruled against.
And herein lies the problem, the ASB is essentially toothless against this kind of thing, where an advertiser is unwilling to listen to what they have to say. This exposes a massive chink in their armoury, and it is unclear whether proposed stringent new laws on outdoor advertising in Queensland will take these kind of ads into account. The problem for the ASB here is Wicked is both the advertiser and media owner, so they have no levers to pull to get Wicked into line.
After all, Wicked doesn’t have to appeal to the mass market, and especially not the more prudishly minded amongst them, it just has to keep drawing attention and custom from its target demographic. So while it is having success with these tactics, what is there to actually stop them?
Alex Hayes is editor of Mumbrella.
Face it, this is a brilliant marketing ploy, appealing directly to the target market and exploiting the ASB’s lack of teeth. The more we whinge, the more ‘extreme’ this brand appears. Want these messages off the road? Have every single one of these vans roadworthy-checked.
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I got stuck in traffic in Melbourne a few months back behind one of these vans with the charming slogan ‘I wouldn’t trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn’t die’. While that may be funny to South Park fans, it reads pretty differently out of that context.
The thing is the outrage may give them far more oxygen than they deserve. The only thing that would really stop them is a far cheaper less offensive company that cash strapped types could use instead.
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Part of the ASB’s problem in this case is that Wicked own the media channel. Where the ASB could (and has) looked to media owners to enforce rulings in the past, such as outdoor sites in particular, Wicked can do as they please because they own the vans.
And it is not a problem peculiar to the current system. Under the previous ad standards system in the 1990s the standards board relied on media owners to enforce rulings under the ACCC approved ad agency accreditation scheme. Even then, the ASB would have had no power over Wicked as owner of the media channel.
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I reckon the easiest way to deal with these clowns is to graffiti over their crappy cars… Don’t think anyone would notice the difference.
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It’s a brilliant campaign. Yes, it’s offensive and some of the slogans should not be able to be viewed by children without doubt, but the coverage here on Mumbrella continues and is wonderfully free. The ASB should take up the advice from ‘Me’ above. Call the RTA……. I think that the ASB isn’t the way to do this. Surely there are other avenues such as the police and offensive behaviour laws etc that could have a very unhappy camper off the road.
So far I’d say that Wicked are targeting the young possibly drug liking camper van traveller market like no large agency ever could.
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One man’s “bold” attention grabbing advertising is another man’s racist and crude. The difference is sometimes prudishness but far more frequently is…I’d like to call it class but it isn’t quite class its more….just not being a feral. And when your wicked campers van has the C-bomb on the side….we’ll you don’t have to be Mr high society to get a sour taste in your mouth. In fact Wicked Campers could be seen as insulting to its own customers – assuming because they have no money they must also have no class – hence the bad reviews on trip advisor. Really like all horribly run businesses all they need is a competitor and they’ll disappear.
But yeah, the main point of the article is spot on – but has been made before. Given the fact that our regulators only have the power to say “naughty naughty” and can’t actually do anything – you have to wonder why we bother to have them. It’s like telling police to walk the beat but taking away their power to arrest people. Utterly futile, so what’s the point in having a regulator?
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I have a can of paint in my boot and am ready to censor any wicked camper I deem inappropriate for my kids when on the road.
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And, while we’re at it, can anyone explain “No Birds….”. I think I must have missed something.
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“so they have no leavers to pull to get Wicked into line”
Sounds like a toolies reference to me. Of course, the ASB doesn’t seem to have any levers at its disposal either. Maybe Tagdad can offer them a crowbar instead.
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Shaggy smoking a reefer? Mickey’s face peeling away? That’s outrageous, Alex! How did you possibly get through the night?
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@notmyrealname. I have never understood “nobirds” either…???? Anyone?
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@Notmyrealname Bayswater Rentals positioning is “cheaper because we don’t have all the fancy stuff like female hostesses” it has been working for them for many years now and almost everybody gets it. Perhaps you have just arrived?
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“How wars start: Politicians lie to journalists, then believe what’s read in newspapers”
whats wrong with that?, its someones opinion, you people cant change that.
If this offends you, then you are living in the reality set by the media and politicians. Please…
take a big step back and realize that the world around us, is so much more offensive than one persons opinion of reality.
its the truth on the back of a van, designed,painted,owned,rented and driven by a generation of people who have a sense of humor, know their way around a pop culture reference and see the fun behind something as boring and simply as advertisement, id rather rent a van with a personality than one with a sticker on the back telling me its from “thrifty”. wouldn’t you? like think about memories in the future, youll remember the crazy, awesome and funny design that you and your family, friends and anyone else who came along as well, got stuck with….oh and not to mention unique, its not just a fleet of vans that are white and shiny, its gritty, and all different sizes but they are all completely unique works of art
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An explanation about ‘No birds…’ for those who cannot use the internet to seach for the answer >> http://www.bayswatercarrental.com.au/no-birds
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thetruth, ahhhh…did you not read ‘of course I’m joking’?
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As for works of art and all the other stuff you said, why should my young children be exposed to the demeaning words on their vehicles?
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