Isuzu Ute Australia is holding an “X rated” competition to promote a new model Ute. Displaying the the text “The New “XRated D-Max” Isuzu is offering “5 hot nights”for “you and three mates” as the prize. Advertising imagery and associated text makes it clear that this prize amounts to sex tourism.
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“Welcome to the Home of the new isuzu x-runner, the ute that’s so good looking we’ve had to give it an x rating. Go on, have a perve.”
Thailand is widely known to be a hot spot for human trafficking and child prostitution. It hosts Asia’s largest sex industry and it is common to see white men walking the streets with young asian girls.
According to humantrafficking.org , Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. Bangkok is a hub of sexual exploitation of women and children in the Greater Mekong sub-region.
And yet Isuzu describes this prize as “the trip-of-a-lifetime…taking in all the Thai capital has to offer.”
It is estimated that 250,000 Western male tourists visit Thailand every year for the purposes of sex tourism. We should be absolutely ashamed that 32,500 of these are Australian men.
This is worth repeating – despite widespread community outrage about child sex abuse, and condemnation for those who commit such abuse, an estimated 32,500 Australian men visit Thailand every year to purchase women and girls for sex,many of whom are in conditions of sexual slavery. Many of these girls entered the sex industry unwillingly and were trafficked as children.
Unless we eliminate men’s demand for the bodies of women and children, we will never see an end to human sex trafficking. It is not acceptable for Isuzu to encourage such demand among its customers.
Men and Women we invite you to take a stand against sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Isuzu must cancel the competition and withdraw its “X rated” themed advertising immediately.
2 Responses
This is a very sad thing to propote! – Sex slavery which really underpins this is tragic. Real – strong good men, the kind you wanna reach, who want and need a ute for work and life, don’t need to fake it, bye it and exploit young foreign girls trapped in a horrific Industory for it. They are made to rescue and help not abuse and leave helpless! Stop selling guys short of who they really are and can be Isuzu!
I not only signed the petition…but also wrote to them
and they have now responded by removing the advertising and the associated competition….
This is their reply
Dear Richard,
Thank you for your feedback regarding our X-Runner campaign, we appreciate you taking the time to express your concerns.
On behalf of Isuzu UTE Australia I would like to sincerely apologise for any distress that our advertising may have caused you.
I can assure you that at no time was our direction intended to be sleazy, derogatory or exploitative – but with the benefit of hindsight, we can now see how this has been interpreted and we are deeply embarrassed.
We have listened carefully to the points you have raised and as a result, have removed this advertising and associated competition.
To elaborate on specifics of the campaign, the choice of Thailand as the destination of the competition prize was made as it is the home of the D-MAX. To illustrate our consideration of the issues you raised, you might be pleased to know Isuzu UTE Australia has been a supporter of SHE Rescue projects in the past – a charity that works to help young victims of the trades and vices you touched upon. We are also strong supporters of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
Thank you again for taking the time to express your concerns and can assure you our marketing department will take greater care in the future.
Thanks & Regards,
Dave.
Dave Harding
Assistant General Manager – Marketing & PR