Advertising To Offend As Many People As Possible? Misogyny Amok In Australia

There's an Australian camping company called Wicked Campervan that has a, uh, unique way of promoting itself.

One of the, er, "artistic" Wicked Campervan
messages that are offending people in
Australia and worldwide.  

Just offend as many people as possible.

So, scrawled on some of their camper vans are charming little messages like "A wife: An attachment you screw on the bed to get the housework done."

Charming, no?

How about this one, quoted exactly how they have it on their vans: "It's better 2 be black than gay cos U don't have 2 tell your parents."

According to a July 14 report on Australia's ABC News, people are understandably not happy with Wicked Campervan:

"By Sunday afternoon, more than 12,000 people had signed a Change.org petition called on Brisbane-based Wicked Campers to remove slogans labeled as degrading to women.

"People are also bombarding the company's Facebook page complaining about the slogans."

Advertising 101 dictates that you find unique, provocative ways to call attention to your business. since Wicked Campers' market is mostly young backpackers, you want to be a bit edgy.

But really. Who in their right mind would want to even be seen in a camper with any of these messages. I'd die of embarrassment if I was in one of those things.

It makes you wonder how much the people who run this wacko company hate women, blacks, gays, whoever is not Just. Like. Them.

Also, is offending much of your market base that great a strategy for your company's success?

I guess there is somewhat of a market for this weirdness, though. Wicked Campers has been the subject of complaints over its slogans for at least the past six years, ABC says.

So far, nobody from Wicked Campers has responsed to media requests for comment.

The shit storm over this is still building, though. They'll probably  have to comment at some point. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

The company president will probably say the controversy is all the fault of those stupid women who should feel honored to be insulted.

Or something like that.