I never thought I’d need a category for vehicle censorship when I started this blog, but than I never thought anyone could be offended by a camper van. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Brisbane wowser and soon-to-be protector of the moral majority, Lucy Clark, is positively outraged that she was bombarded with suggestive artwork painted on a number of Wicked camper vans whilst she was out driving with her children.
If you’ve never seen a Wicked Camper on the road, they are usually full of unshaven Swedish backpackers and covered in artwork (like the one pictured below). Everything from The Beatles and James Bond, to blondes and boobys. And as much as John Lennon probably stirs up the goody genes in people like Lucy, it was the latter that set her off.
Here’s a few of the slogans painted on Wicked Campers that Lucy didn’t like:
- ‘Men would like women’s brains more if they jiggled when they walked.’
- ‘If God was a woman, sperm would taste like chocolate.’
- ‘Women only fake orgasms because they think men care.’
- ‘Woman are like banks: once you withdraw you lose interest.’
- And one about D Cups
Her kid didn’t understand the joke, it went completely over her head as you might expect. Lucy was the one offended. She has her priorities in the right place though. She wants a law against it. Urgh.
Lucky this guy doesn’t live here.
Wicked has hundreds of pictures of their vans on their website if you’re interested and they cost about $30 bucks a night if you feel like camping around Brisbane.
8 comments
chris says:
Jun 17, 2008
Firstly, I love the penis car (hilarious!).
Regarding the Wicked vans, I often have a chuckle when I see their politically incorrect slogans and pictures. Clearly Wicked vans are trying to be controversial, whether they intend to offend is another matter.
And yet I do find some of those phrases offensive. For instance, ‘Woman are like banks: once you withdraw you lose interest’.
On the other hand, I don’t really find ‘If God was a woman, sperm would taste like chocolate’ offensive. (The reason I find one offensive and not the other is probably the whole only jews should make jokes about jews thing…) But I can see that other people might find that phrase offensive.
I don’t have children, so I’m saying this on my own behalf. I completely agree that children would not understand, and a pet hate of mine is when people use their children as an excuse to not come out and say they themselves find something offensive.
It seems especially the case when it comes to things of a sexual nature, which is very clear with this whole internet filter debacle. I wish they’d just come out and say “I find personally find pornography offensive, and would like the government to pay for a filtering system so I don’t have to accidentally be exposed to it when downloading non-porn movies illegally.” Of course, i do also understand these these people would like to impose their moral standards upon other people.
Which is why I think the situation with the vans is slightly different, personally I’d prefer it if there weren’t derogatory jokes about women (or racist ones for that matter) on the side of vans (or ever). If people want to share such jokes with each other they can, and if Lucy wants to tell people she finds it offensive, well surely she can too.
If Wicked vans care about offending people then they might decide remove some of the more racy slogans. I’m against censorship, I don’t think the vans should be banned.
People have a right to write what they want, and equally others have a right to say they find things offensive.
Mike says:
Jun 18, 2008
Chris: You might not know it, but their aren’t that many cars that look like a penis. I thought there’d be thousands (why I don’t know), but Google image search only turned up a few
The vans are similar to billboard advertising, where some might say a person has no choice but to see it.
With that said though, it also comes down to everybody’s invisible line. The line that ‘shouldn’t be crossed.’ In Lucy’s case, slogans like these crossed her line.
Should we measure what’s offensive based on Lucy’s line (or your’s or mine)? I’d hope not, because it’s bound to be very different.
‘Woman are like banks: once you withdraw you lose interest‘ may be in pretty poor taste, but to many it’s probably just a bit of a laugh.
I ask people like Lucy: What’s wrong with being offended?
Anna Bligh not happy with Wicked camper vans - Somebody Think Of The Children says:
Jun 24, 2008
[...] comes after one Brisbane mother had difficulties explaining to her children what some of the more sexual slogans… (imagine if parents had to explain what their kids heard in the [...]
Australia’s 20 Worst Cases of Censorship and Moral Outrage in 2008 - Somebody Think Of The Children says:
Dec 28, 2008
[...] Not wicked, obscene! A Brisbane mother was up in arms about suggestive artwork painted on Wicked Camper Vans. QLD Premier Anna Bligh was also outraged and lodged a complaint with the ASB (after the QLD police [...]
Big D says:
Jun 2, 2009
Quoting Chris “People have a right to write what they want, and equally others have a right to say they find things offensive.”
And quoting Mike “What’s wrong with being offended?”
I agree, Chris, and Mike! I knew your moms, they were real sluts. I just expressed my right to free speech. Are you offended?
Mike says:
Jun 2, 2009
No. And even if I was, I’d still support your right to say it.
dd says:
Dec 14, 2009
they arent offensive, they’re just juvenile and lame
Christian says:
Oct 13, 2011
Regarding Wicked: Absolutely disgusting smelly worn out shit vans. Plus you have to ring them at least twice to get your bond back.
Our van was from 1984 with over 4 millions kilometres mileage! A wonder it didn’t break down.
Wicked Campers business is based on that some people forget all about the bond once the car is returned. When you call them to remind them that your bond is due they come up with lame excuses.
I’m not saying they’re frauds, it’s just a business disguised as a ‘we-are-oh-so-friendly-hippies’ – but we fucking love your money.