Five things Wicked Campers needs to do online right now

[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
The very market that hires Wicked Campers is the younger set who quite frankly can’t stand all this politically correct bullsh!t from the warm and fuzzy do-gooders born in the seventies and eighties.
A hundred thousand years of evolution has gone into making mankind what it is. No bunch of warm PC nutcases who think everyone is created equal etc is going to change what the new generation know in their heads and hearts.
99.99 percent of their customers consider homosexual behaviours to be an abomination against nature and that one stupid PC generation is not going to change thousands of years of evolution for what roles the sexes should be slotted into.
Get over it. The sooner this PC nonsense is stamped out the better.

All interesting points Sebastian but I think the community outrage is growing by the day in part thanks to social media.

There is talk about working with companies e.g. petrol stations to refuse to provide goods/services to anyone in one of these vans.

That would have an IMMEDIATE effect.

I think people are becoming more and more disenchanted with branding and campaigns such as this which leads to even more cynicism towards the advertising industry.

I used to love Australia in the 1950s and 60s when owners took pride in their vehicles and kept them clean and tidy from such nonsense. Graffiti “art” with spray can slogans is not Australian art – its imported foreign rubbish from the 1980s ghettos of PC New York. Australia is neither a ghetto nor New York. Will Wicked Campers please take note – please take us back to the clean cut days of my youth, when people took pride in their appearance to be Australian without having to shout about it.

I agree with you Steven – I made the point that the vans are very visible bits of bad news. The company can’t run a campaign to say this and think “job done”. It’s like Kyle Sandilands apologising for whatever he’s done this week. No one believes him.

Wicked Campers has an opportunity to do some good work but it needs to culturally change within itself to deliver on that.

I’m not saying they should immediately start sprouting “PC bullshit” (troll’s words). Of course it won’t get through to their target market, and it won’t be believed by the people calling them out across social media.

Wicked Campers doesn’t sell to people born and raised in Pleasantville, and it doesn’t pretend the world is peachy keen either. I’m not suggesting it should.

What I *am* suggesting is that it could use its connection to The Youth, while still acknowledging that its customers are here to have a good time, to do something positive.

If community action like Steven is talking about ramps up (not to mention the 100,000+ signature petition), it will have few options otherwise.

Good suggestions. I’ve always thought this company’s offensive slogans were particularly stupid, as they could easily have created a brand reputation for cheek & irreverence without heading into outright misogyny as they have done.

Alternatively, they could continue being controversial and getting noticed.

Simple – get state vehicle registration authorities involved. Is every single one of these vans 100+% road worthy?? Not a slightly bald tyre among the entire fleet? Better check – and check again. And again to be sure. Lots of vans off-road being scrupulously checked. That puts a dint in the business model. The slogans would be gone in an afternoon. That’d curb – or kerb – their behaviour.

The Wicked Campers business continues to thrive. Camper vans are rented out to backpackers and the business is thrown free publicity weekly by social media ‘experts’ and their dog. Why would they change anything let-alone listen to a social media strategist, a title which is claimed by hundreds of thousands on twitter. The only problems are [1] a toothless Advertising Standards Board and [2] the small signal-to-noise ratio on social media. People running thriving businesses don’t need to waste time pandering to narcissists and slacktivists on twitter. @Steven – as for any ill-conceived fuel-station boycott of these vans – the law of unintended consequences would probably kick in. Imagine a group of young Latvian women (say) arriving in Australia as backpackers, unaware of the ‘outrage’ or even the meaning of some of the ‘slogans’, hiring one of these vans to tour around the county. They’re refused fuel at a remote petrol station, attempt to make it to another one, run out of fuel and [fill in death scenario of your choosing ranging from ax murderer to lack of water] Now imagine the real outrage against the fuel station brand at this point. Anyone wanting this bad-taste campaign stopped should lobby the government(s) to change the Advertising Standards Board’s mandate and associated legislation (if any). This would of course take time, resources, cash and contacts. But that’s the point. Change is hard. Screaming rage from a keyboard on social media achieves almost nothing.

As a proud producer of often offensive, obscene and politically incorrect content (that incidentally does wonders for the brands/causes I work for), I couldn’t disagree more with the views and strategies of the writer of this article.

Sounds like it’s straight from the text-book of boring, conservative, self- proclaimed social media douchbags that more often than not sady have the ears of uninformed, university educated, ineffective marketing directors of most major brands in Australia.

Whilst I personally don’t condone the sentiment of the messages written on the campervans, they certainly elicit the desired marketing effect.

For the folk who are getting riled up over the content of the marketing, perhaps consider who you vote for at the next election. This sort if behaviour is cultural and has to change from the too down. I dare suggest the same people who are crying the loudest most likely voted for a government the condones torture of non-white skinned folk, corporal punishment In schools and if course has an attorney general who publicly and proudly declared ‘people do have a right to be bigots you know’.

If it is change in the laws we so desire that moves us towards a kinder society that is less discriminatory of others, perhaps use your power to vote, or run for public office if you feel your local, state and federal candidates are unrepresentative of your views.

Until then, shut up and crawl back into the hole you came out of and allow this Australian business to continue to do what is within it’s legal right to do.

the outrage is from people who will never use wicked campers even if they did change their vans. Do you think the backpacker coming in from overseas is thinking since there is so much outrage i should give them a miss? Hardly, they are probably thinking, gee at $20 or $30 a day it’s not too bad, it drives and I can sleep in it and drop it off when i’m finished.

Jeremy

As your comments are probably directed at me and others who have put forward our views I will say right here and now that I am a rusted on leftie with socialist principles and philosophy. I am also very open minded and have worked through my capacity as a librarian in the advertising industry (I was the Product, Rules and Standards Manager for Sensis in a past life) and I take umbrage at your comments.

I think that Wicked Campers have a flawed strategy as it is alientating a whole new potential market.

I have friends and colleagues in their early 20s who have done the whole ‘back pack’ experience and they have commented that they would not be seen dead behind the wheel of one of these vehicles for several reasons

1. The vehicles are in generally poor condition

2. The unwarranted attention these vehicles attract usually from loud mouthed drunken typical Aussie male blokes out on the town. “ooer two Swedish girls in a Wicked Camper … they must be good for a easy ****”

I agree with TIm and Sebastian and the points they have raised. Yes there is always room for a ‘hip and edgy’ campaign to attract customers and eyeballs but the value proposition of WC has declined as the continual messages displayed further and further go down the misogynistic / sexist / homophobic path

Actually, Jeremy, we do agree on something: “Whilst I personally don’t condone the sentiment of the messages written on the campervans, they certainly elicit the desired marketing effect.” These are my feelings exactly.

This article – on a marketing website – is not about whether you or I or the target market condone the slogans or not. It’s obviously been a successful strategy to date – as I say, there’s been complaints about Wicked Campers for years, and it hasn’t slowed them down.

But what happens if a critical mass of opinion starts to make that target market think twice about being seen in the vans? What would you do then? Shut down the Facebook page and delete comments? Sounds a bit…conservative to me.

This company sounds like my 5 naughty children when they were caught out on some misdemeanour I didn’t do it went up the cry or later sounding like insolent teenagers they have grown now and they apologise they have children of their own to rear

Imagine the impact if the company painted their vans with tourism images instead of slander towards anyone else. Imagine pictures of our greatest icons, our reef, rainforest, Aboriginal culture etc etc etc. What a stand out brand that would be.

What a load of supercilious bullshit, why does the brand ‘need’ to do these things to their whole fleet, why?

The target audience loves the brand because of what if offers, rental vans with attitude not price – none of the people commenting here are in the target nor are they customers. The offending slogans should be re-done as per the decision and we should all move on from this kangaroo court.

It would be against a whole raft legislation to deny service on race, colour, creed or belief so good luck with that and I’m sure the cops would pull them over if unroadworthy regardless of public pressure.

I’m not for the way they run their business, and could say that for many others, but I’m more against govt intervention of free speech and lynch mobs personally

I have to agree with the majority of the comments above – these “five things” are straight out of any typical PR/Crisis management textbook which is quickly reached for when clients approach you to help protect their brand.

Except that Wicked haven’t, and won’t. The simple fact is that they just don’t care. The don’t care about the ASB, they don’t care what little Jimmy might see peering through the passenger window. They couldn’t care less about “social media crisis management” and they certainly don’t care about how they appear in mainstream media.

Just look at the way they responded to SBS’ cameras – a gay son who dragged up and threw on an affected airhead personality to show just how little they care about the whole situation. The entire thing is a joke to them, and that’s exactly how they approached it.

There is a never-ending stream of backpackers and tourists who will never hear of this scandal and not care – they’ll see the cost of the campers and sign up ASAP. Wicked don’t need mainstream acceptance to maintain their business model.

Until they’re forced to make any changes, they won’t. They’ll continue to laugh at the entire situation, a situation that continues to reinforce their idea that the world is far too stuffy a place that needs to be snapped out of itself now and again.

Sebastian – I’m sure you’re very good at your job, but you’ve missed a critical part: understanding your client’s (virtual or otherwise) needs. They don’t need you, and they don’t want you (or indeed anybody in your industry). Your advice is useless to them and will never be taken on board.

i hope they stick to their current plan.
How many brands attempt the outlaw archetype only to water it down with this nonsense straight out of a PR handbook. If you’re a rebel brand, be rebel and dont waiver for anyone. Your core audience will respect you for that.

Sebastian you’ve proven why social media strategists are not strategists at all. You may understand the social space but your recommendations show a remarkable lack of understanding of the WC brand and their consumer.

Your recommendations would no doubt kill their brand and business.

Perhaps call yourself a community manager (not strategist) as that’s what your recommendations sound like.

if i was running wicked campers i’d ignore all of ths PR advice. I’d shut up for a month, not run any campaigns, stay away from social media, i would certainly not apologise or trigger a massive rebrand. i’d spend my month lying low and coming up with some crackerjack new offensive slogans and emerge once all of the shrillness has died down.

yes, wicked campers is attracting a lot of bad press, but nobody criticising the business would ever patronise them anyway. 100,000 strong petition against them – precisely 0 of which fit into the target market. ride it out and stay on-brand.

oh, and i’d lose the chuck norris jokes too. sooooo 2009.

If I were them I would run a competition among their FB fans: whoever comes up with the top 10 most offensive & antagonising slogans get their creativity immortalised on the side of a 1988 Ford Econovan. The target of their vitriol would, of course, be the PC-brigade/government.

For example, in response to the QLD government’s laughable attempts to ban them, how about Campbell Newman’s face painted on Hitler’s body (resplendent in full Nazi regalia, mid-salute) and re-brand as “Wicked Camper Bans”?

Red rag to a bull & all that – get on the front foot.

Apparently Wicked have just apologised and committed to removing all misogynistic slogans from their vans within six months.

A victory for common sense and our children who do deserve the right not to see such garbage in public view.

Wicked can still be as childish and maveric and purile with their on camper slogans. There is just no need to denegrate women, why not denegrate men instead for a change? Something like, “Men are deep thinkers and there goes a flock of Koalas too!”

Hey mumbrella, how can you publish A Nonymous’ post claiming “99.99 percent of their customers consider homosexual behaviours to be an abomination against nature ” when there is no fact around this? I’m all for providing the platform to publish an opinion, but not to publish outright untruths, even in the comments.

In fact, the latest surveys (from newspoll not two days ago) suggest A Nonymous is in the minority in this regard.

Wicked Campers are in real trouble. They claim ‘any publicity is good publicity’ and subsequently shut down their facebook page and website, and then back down? Their target market (comprised of idiot bogans) is irrelevant if Lonely Planet and others in the travel industry no longer want to be associated with them. This is losing them money.

I love these vans with these slogans and think there should be many many more of them. Especially the ‘princess .. slut’ slogan.
I n fact I think there should be more vans with various slogans allowed. Racist, homophobic, etc.
Why I love these vans with these slogans is because I’m a snob (and I’m not being sarcastic here) and selective in who I interact with.
I see any one driving one of those vans or people next to them when parked and, it is wonderful, I know I don’t want to interact at all with those people.
And I’m sure the feeling is mutual if they knew my views on things which is fine also.

Hear, hear to “Love Them” The more people identifying themselves, the better. Everyone should be made to display those “Don’t blame me, I voted for…” bumper stickers.

Those throwing labels such as ‘PC’ or ‘leftie’ seem to be ignoring that WC are getting increasingly negative brand perception because of adherence to ‘non-PC’ values. Cleaning up New York didn’t ruin it’s character – quite the opposite.

The suggestion WC improve the situation by being proactive (and building a brand that doesn’t have to rely on the lowest common denominator to get clients in the door) is not evil – it’s common sense. Reinvigorate your old base, relight the fires that went out, and invite the new. That’s not ‘lefty’, that’s good business… and business is ‘righty’ if anything!
Sometimes it can be a very clever decision to recognise the value of a perceived ‘middle ground’.

If you want to be homophobic or angry or throw labels around or whatever, that’s a reflection on you, not others.

@Love Them – I’d ‘like’ if there was a button 🙂

@Anonomous (comment 1)
“all this politically correct bullsh!t from the warm and fuzzy do-gooders born in the seventies and eighties.”….
Ah, I think you’ll find the 70s were one of the least politically correct decades in recent history. Political correctness rose in the generation I presume you are part of.

If wicked stripped back the messages, so that they did not touch a nerve they might not be seen as ‘cool’. Young, adventurous back packers like quirk, like to break the rules and like to stand out = Wicked’s target market. If the messages on Wicked Campers were ‘drive safely’, or ‘happy travels’ it might not have the same appeal.

One area which might work though would be to feature role models to the youth that are cool; Bob Marley as an example and make it inspiring..? These campers if you break it down are cheap.

Personally, I would prefer a plain camper that blends in and does not make me stick out as a tourist; less chance of having my van broken into then…

Some very interesting ethics on display in this thread.

I think it comes back to whether brands should do anything possible to increase their sales, regardless of how offensive they happen to be or who they harm.

I think it is possible to be clever, irreverent & funny without abusing women or any other group. If you’re not skilled enough to walk this line, then perhaps you are in the wrong job.

Tone down some of the more vulgar messages for sure, but they should absolutely continue to be controversial and “pleasantly offensive” to continue getting large amounts of exposure.