Big brands take aim at Wicked Campers

NewsHub 29 March 2016
Family First Comment: Our complaints to Coke, Pepsi and Disney are paying off! 🙂

Tourists driving vans hired from Wicked Campers might want to take extra care on the roads from today, as any insurance they’ve paid for might now be void.

The Australian company has been under fire lately for its vans’ offensive art and slogans, with a number of camping grounds banning them outright. But Wicked Campers has resisted making any changes, flat-out ignoring the controversy.

“I wrote to them multiple times, wrote to the general manager, wrote to the owner, tried to speak to them, left voicemails — no response,” National MP Shane Reti said on the Paul Henry programme this morning.

The Advertising Standards Authority has called the company’s van art “deliberately provocative and offensive”. Some bear slogans advocating rape, drug use, murder and racial hatred.

After receiving several complaints from constituents in his Whangarei electorate and struggling to get in touch with Wicked Campers, Mr Reti decided to try another approach.

“We had a number of constituents write to us saying, ‘You know, Snow White smoking crack? I think Disney is going to be upset with that. Maybe you should approach them.’ And so we did.”

Disney was “very angry” with Wicked Campers’ use of their trademarks, as was Coca-Cola, whose logo is used in a reference to cocaine. Meanwhile, Pepsi was “furious”.

“Pepsi basically said, and I quote, ‘Pepsi New Zealand can confirm that it is in no way associated with Wicked Campers, and we will be following up with the company about the inappropriate and offensive use of the Pepsi trademark.’ They are really angry,” says Mr Reti.
READ MORE: http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/big-brands-take-aim-at-wicked-campers-2016032908#axzz44EfMPAKA