Collective Shout Calls on all Australian Music Festivals to Ban Wicked Campers
Dear Australian Music Festivals,
Collective Shout is a grassroots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. Since our formation a decade ago, we have engaged in an on-going campaign against the Australian camper van company Wicked Campers. You may be aware of our campaign.
Wicked Campers has attracted widespread criticism for its normalising of violence against women. The vehicles are notorious for their sexist and misogynist slogans and imagery, some advocating rape and even murder. The company has also been criticised for its homophobic and racist slogans. Images of these vehicles can be seen here.
Our campaign has been boosted by the passage of legislation in Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT, to de-register the vehicles where Ad Standards have upheld complaints against a particular slogan or image. We have also been very encouraged by the actions of Wollombi festival promoter Adrian Buckley who announced recently that Wicked Campers would be banned from the festival. Mr Buckley said that Wollombi’s values of inclusivity, diversity and creating a positive environment where people could feel both “comfortable and embraced”, were not represented by Wicked Campers, and concluded that an outright ban was the most effective way to send a message to the wider community. You can find Mr Buckley’s statement here.
Some festivals around Australia have made the decision to ban individual Wicked Camper vans if they contain an offensive slogan. But we would urge festivals to go further and following the lead of Adrian Buckley in banning all Wicked Campers from your event. This would send a strong signal that you will not allow Wicked Campers to be represented in any way at your festival. Our thousands of supporters around the country would welcome this move.
Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to your response.
Collective Shout is officially calling on four main festivals to join Wollombi and ban Wicked Camper vans from all future events:
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