The billboard is advertising Gotham City, a 24-hour brothel in South Melbourne, and the truck has the number plate “ISEEUU”. The vehicle appears to be owned and operated by South Melbourne-based marketing company I See You Media.
According to a VicRoads vehicle registration check, the white truck is registered until 2025.
When contacted by Drive, a Gotham City employee said: “I’m so excited you noticed and liked the advertisement on the truck. With saying this and the tone of your email, it is obviously clear you have no knowledge of Victorian road laws nor do you understand the law and right to advertise. I’m not sure if your [sic] a qualified person to make any of those statements.”
The employee added: “Once again thank you and I trust your [sic] enjoy our promotion. Finally, I highly recommend I see [You] media should you wish to advertise your business. Have a lovely day and should you require our services please pop in.”
But the billboard may breach regulation 299 of the Victorian road rules.
“A driver must not drive a vehicle that has a television receiver or visual display unit in or on the vehicle operating while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked if any part of the image on the screen is likely to distract another driver,” the regulation says.
An Ad Standards spokesperson said while the watchdog hadn’t received a complaint about the advertisement on the truck, it had previously found similar promotions in breach of its codes.
An image on a mobile billboard for Gotham City brothel, seen in 2023.Credit: Reddit
“We have previously received complaints about Gotham City mobile billboards. Complainants were concerned that the imagery in the advertising is overtly sexual and not appropriate for a broad audience. In late 2023, images that appeared in Gotham City advertising were found in breach of the code,” the Ad Standards spokesperson said.
“We encourage anyone who is concerned about the content of an ad to lodge a complaint on the Ad Standards website. Just one complaint is enough to trigger an investigation.”
In one of the complaints filed to Ad Standards in 2023, a complainant wrote: “This was a full-screen scrolling video on a truck driving around the streets at 3.30 in the afternoon. I was on a bus with about 40 10-year-old children at the time coming back from a school excursion. It was basically displaying soft-porn images.”
I See You Media was approached for comment.
This story was originally published on Drive.
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