AN AUSTRALIAN CAMPERVAN firm known for the eye-catching slogans graffitied on its vehicles has faced outrage on social media after thousands signed an online petition against its “misogynistic” messages.
Wicked Campers, which is popular with backpackers, has been the subject of complaints in the past, including criticism over a “Save a Whale – Harpoon a Jap” slogan on one its vans in 2008.
The latest outrage stems from a message which read: “In every princess, there’s a little slut who wants to try it just once”.
Sydney resident Paula Orbea started the online petition on Friday after her 11-year-old daughter saw the message on a van in the scenic Blue Mountains west of Sydney during the school holidays.
It has so far been signed by nearly 25,000 people.
Free speech
“I agree with free speech, but where is the line? At what point do we say no, that’s not morally correct?” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We’re not the enemy for saying we don’t like to be referred to as sluts, that we all are begging (for sex) and hyper-sexualised.
“We have the right to say we’re not happy with that.”
In her petition calling on Wicked to “eliminate misogynistic and degrading slogans and imagery”, Orbea said her daughter had been upset by the message she saw.
“It is inconceivable that Wicked Campers choose to not only write the misogynistic ‘joke’ but also then publicise it through their moving, billboard vans,” she said.
“Shame on them.”
It didn’t go down too well on Twitter either:
‘We poke fun at everything’
Queensland-based Wicked Campers, told SBS that it doesn’t “try to be controversial”.
“We just do what we love and just have fun,” a spokesperson said.
“We poke fun at everything more broadly, it’s never specifically targeted at anyone in particular at all.”
In responding to a previous complaint to the Advertising Standards Board about a slogan which read, “Women are like banks – once you withdraw you lose interest,” it argued the artwork did not constitute advertising.
While it disagreed with the board’s finding that the slogan was misogynistic, demeaning to, and objectified women, it agreed to replace it with something “dull” and “boring”, according to the Advertising Standards Bureau website.
- © AFP 2014 with additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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