'This is rape culture': Outrage over 'revolting' message painted on campervan
A campervan hire company has been accused of supporting “rape culture”.
Boycott Wicked Campers posted a picture on Facebook of one of Wicked Campers’ vans with Victorian licence plates pictured on a street in Brisbane last week.
The van had a slogan printed on the back which the page claims supports “rape culture”.
“The difference between marmalade and jam is you can’t marmalade your c*** down your girlfriend’s throat,” the slogan reads.
The page, which claims Wicked Campers “shows contempt for community standards” with “toxic slogans”, wrote the phrasing “has violent undertones against women”.
“This is rape culture,” it wrote.
“This signage would be illegal on a billboard.”
There have been calls to remove the vans from the roads entirely.
Last month, Federal Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer, denounced the vans as “sexist, misogynistic and offensive”.
“We have no tolerance for sexist, misogynistic and offensive slogans on campervans, or those displayed anywhere else for that matter, no matter how hard some try to justify their existence,” she said.
“That’s why I’ve written to the states and territories to urge them to support a national approach to rid Australia of these offensive vehicles.”
She also called on international visitors to steer clear of the vehicles.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said hirers who avoid Wicked Campers also choose to “ensure parents or grandparents won’t have to explain the vile meaning of these disgusting signs or images to their children or grandchildren”.
“These vehicles are offensive and belong in a junkyard not on Australian roads.”
In November, the Adelaide Advertiser reported Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT all introduced laws allowing vehicles to be deregistered if complaints were registered with the Advertising Standards Bureau.
‘I’d rather walk’
Others added they also found the latest slogan offensive.
“I'd rather walk than drive anything with that kind of message on it,” one woman wrote.
“Nobody in their right mind would drive around displaying that message - why are they still booking these vans?”
Another woman added it was an example of “the lowest form of humour” and “revolting”.
But not everyone found the van’s slogan offensive.
“Geez... I’m amazed how many snowflakes are around these days,” one man wrote.
Another man suggested critics needed to “grow a sense of humour”.
Yahoo News Australia has contacted Wicked Campers for comment.
In January, Wollombi Music Festival, which is hosted in NSW’s Hunter Region, said the company's hire vans won't be welcome in September regardless of whether or not they are painted with shocking slogans.
"As festival fans it's always galled us to see this pathetic company trading off the romanticism of hitting the road for summer festival season, enjoying good times with your mates, freedom and sunshine, all at the expense of women all over the country," a post on the festival's official Facebook page states.
"The world is turning, this kind of stuff needs to be called out, and we hope others will follow our small lead and do the same thing."
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