It’s easy to go too far when trying to grab attention through shock value
Shock marketing can grab you some easy attention, but in many cases it’s really 
not the attention you’d like to receive. Take the case of Australia’s Wicked Campers, who was forced to remove sexist, misogynistic, and ridiculously immature slogans from its fleet of rental vans after a massive public outcry. Mumbrella reports:
Wicked Campers has pledged to remove controversial slogans from the side of its vans following protests from a lobby group led by a Sydney school teacher.
John Webb, owner of the publicity-hungry campervan firm, said it will remove slogans, that have been branded sexist and misogynistic, over the next six months.
One reads: “In every princess there’s a little s*** who wants to try it just once’, while another says ‘Women are like banks. Once you withdraw you lose interest’.
Because the advertising was on the company’s own vehicles, Australia’s Advertising Standards Board was unable to force a change, but after nearly 130,000 people signed her Change.org petition addressed to Wicked Campers, Paula Orbea, the Sydney mother who launched the campaign, was able to declare, “people power has prevailed!”
Wicked Campers was aiming for free publicity, and they certainly got it with more than 150 mentions in the media. Trouble is, every bit of it was the type that would make us want to spend our money elsewhere.
A big thank you to our colleague Tony Jaques for sharing this story with us! if you have a crisis management-related story or case study you think would make for a good blog, send it on in to erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com..
The BCM Blogging Team