Splendour Refuses To Ban Wicked Vans, But Warns Punters Against Bringing Them

Dickheads be warned: Splendour In The Grass don’t want to see Wicked Campers Vans on their site this July.

In case you need a reminder, the hire vehicles are decorated with some pretty vile slogans and graffiti, and have long attracted the attention of anyone decent enough to say that rape and murder ‘jokes’ probably aren’t fair game to have spray painted on the side of a van.

In an open letter, last month activist group Collective Shout asked that multiple festivals outright ban the vans, calling them sexist, misogynist, homophobic and racist.

“Some festivals around Australia have made the decision to ban individual Wicked Campers vans if they contain an offensive slogan,” they wrote. “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.”

The letter specifically targeted Splendour In The Grass, Rainbow Serpent, Woodford and The Big Pineapple. After the letter gained attention via media outlets such as Music Feeds this week, triple j approached Secret Sounds, the organisers behind the fast-approaching Splendour, for a response.

In a statement shared with triple j, they said the vans were not welcome.

“If you’re planning your camping for Splendour, please do not book campervans that carry derogatory messaging,” the festival writes in a statement. “We don’t want to promote the brand, so we’re not going to mention them by name, but you know the company we’re referring to.”

They would not, however, outright ban Wicked vans.

“Splendour is an inclusive community and while we have not banned any specific vehicle hire companies, sexist, disrespectful and offensive messaging has no place at our event. Splendour has made its position clear on this in the past and it is also stated in the ticketing T&Cs: ‘The Organiser reserves the right to remove any person in possession of or displaying… any item which is deemed racist, vilifying, sexist and/or offensive’.”

In response to Splendour’s statement, Collective Shout has said that nothing short of a ban will make any difference, due to Wicked’s marketing.

“This will not work,” the group wrote in a statement (via Facebook). “Wicked Campers target market is festivals. They are offering discount codes to those attending Splendour in the Grass and are calling on attendees to share photos of themselves with the vans at the event, an “up yours” to anyone who wants to not see these vilifying messages on our roads.”

Earlier this year, NSW’s Wollombi Music Festival banned all Wicked Campers vans, calling them “pathetically unfunny”.

In March, the then Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer asked state and territory governments to remove Wicked’s “disgusting and offensive” slogans from our roads via legislation.

Since 2017, both Queensland and Tasmania currently have had the ability to deregister vehicles that don’t comply with standards, but currently, that just means that the company then re-registers the individual vans in other states.

Splendour In The Grass 2019 is held Friday July 19 to Sunday July 21 at North Byron Parklands, headlined by Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Chance the Rapper.