(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
With their explicit graffiti artwork and controversial slogans, Wicked Camper vans are copping criticism for their colourful vans, with some describing them as 'misogynistic' and 'degrading'.
A recent online petition with more than 100,000 supporters wants offensive Wicked vans off the streets.
The Senate has passed a Greens' motion condemning the hire car company, calling their slogans "sexist, misogynistic and racist".
The Queensland government is also debating the fate of the campervan rental company, with one local mayor pushing for offensive vans to be banned altogether.
But as Lin Taylor reports, Wicked says they don't try to be controversial.
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For some people, they're an Aussie icon.
"They're cool and they're young and they're hip and whatever. And colourful. So whatever's cheapest I suppose. "
For others, they're downright offensive.
"I think they're despicable. It's amazing that you can legally do that in 2014. It's utterly offensive. "
Popular amongst backpackers travelling on the cheap, Wicked Campers is famous for its spray-painted graffiti artwork and slogans that offend people wherever they go.
Things like: "virginity can be cured" or "Fat girls are harder to kidnap".
An online petition calling for Wicked to remove offensive slogans from its vans now has more than 100,000 signatures.
But despite numerous complaints, Wicked Campers' Leanne Webb says the company isn't worried about the backlash.
"No. We're not worried at all about it affecting business in any wayâ¦. I mean, what would life be if we never had any trouble? It'll kinda be a little bit boring."
Leanne's father John Webb started Wicked Campers in Brisbane 14 years ago.
The company now has 34 depots around the world in countries such as Japan, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States.
In the past seven years alone, Wicked has received nearly 60 complaints through the Advertising Standards Board.
And although half of these complaints have been upheld, Wicked continues to ignore warnings.
But Leanne Webb says the company doesn't set out to stir controversy.
"We don't try to be controversial. We never try to be controversial. It's not our goal. We just do what we love and we just have fun."
Leanne says it's great that people are exercising their right to be offended.
"It's great that people get offended. It's great that people have opinions because it means they know what they like and what they don't like as well."
In Queensland, someone who doesn't like what he sees is Sunshine Coast mayor, Mark Jamieson.
He finds the slogans and artwork on Wicked vans extremely offensive and demeaning towards women.
"Certainly I've seen sexual messages demeaning women. I think there's a standard that society expects and is prepared to accept and in my view, these messages have gone beyond that."
Mr Jamieson says he wants Wicked vans classified as a form of outdoor advertising and subject to the same rules as commercial billboards.
"The signwriting on Wicked Campers may need to be assessed the same way that outdoor advertising is assessed. I think people would be absolutely horrified if the same messages on Wicked campers were on roadside billboards, yet the impact is exactly the same."
The Queensland government is now looking into whether Wicked campervans should come under the same scrutiny as outdoor billboards.
If laws are changed, it means authorities can take action against offensive vans, and potentially ban them from public places like beaches and caravan parks.
But lawyer Ben Kay says getting offensive vans off the streets will be difficult.
"For the state government or councils to be approaching that would mean that either the police would be enforcing this, or caravan park owners or council rangers, so I think practically, it would be pushing the responsibility from one party to another. So usually reform of these areas is quite hard to implement.
Working out what is or isn't offensive will also be a legal nightmare.
"Determining what's offensive can be quite difficult. If you look at the Advertising Standards Board and the complaints they consider quite regularly, different people consider different things to be offensive."
The Queensland government will decide the fate of Wicked Campers later this month.
