A truck bearing adult-themed advertising is still navigating Melbourne peak-hour despite widespread complaints from road users. Recent photos of the Gotham City truck in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton in 2026. A truck with raunchy visual displays advertising a Melbourne brothel is still generating controversy on the roads roughly four years after it first became the subject of public outrage.
The truck, which promotes South Melbourne-based brothel Gotham City, can typically be spotted driving through inner-city areas during peak-hour, displaying large screens featuring lingerie-clad women alongside suggestive taglines. RELATED: Is it legal to drive with headphones in Australia? “My eight-year-old son and I got stuck behind the truck at the lights in Carlton this week, exposing him to five minutes of filth we couldn’t get away from,” one Melbourne driver told Drive.
When Drive initially covered the truck back in April 2024, a VicRoads spokesperson said it was likely in contravention of rules prohibiting vehicles from featuring “external visual displays with moving text or images”. Additionally, an Ad Standards spokesperson said it had received complaints about the promotional truck and found several of its ads to be in breach of advertising codes. Two years later, the truck remains on Melbourne roads, and Ad Standards Executive Director Greg Wallace told Drive it has garnered “approximately 80 complaints” since January 2024.
These complaints have led to six of the brothel’s ad campagins being assessed by the watchdog’s community panel, with five of those found to be in breach of the organisation’s Code of Ethics. “Where the Ad Standards Community Panel has determined a breach, Gotham City has removed the content,” Mr Wallace told Drive. “In New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, if an ad displayed on a vehicle breaches the advertising codes and the content is not removed, Ad Standards will escalate the issue to the relevant state transport authority, which may lead to the vehicle’s registration being cancelled.” The Gotham City billboard spotted by Drive back in April 2024.
However, Drive has found the mobile billboard has been the subject of complaints since at least 2022, and ranked as one of the national advertising watchdog’s ‘Most Complained-About Ads’ in both 2022 and 2024. An online vehicle registration check revealed that the truck – which bears the number plates ‘ISEEUU’ – has a current and valid registration due to expire in 2027. Drive has contacted Gotham City for comment and is yet to receive a response.
However, in a previous response to an Ad Standards complaint filed in 2024, a Gotham City spokesperson said in a statement: “The ‘I See You Media’ truck, employed by Gotham City, operates lawfully and is in strict accordance with the regulations set forth by VicRoads and Victorian Law. Our digital advertising content consists solely of static images, fully compliant with permissible standards for such media. “Furthermore, it is important to clarify that our advertisements featuring individuals in bikinis do not constitute nudity.
As a licensed brothel, we engage in the promotion of our services, which naturally includes the individuals who provide them. This practice is consistent with the advertising norms observed within our industry. “It is noteworthy that numerous similar digital billboard trucks are operational in the Melbourne area without issue, underscoring the conformity of our practices with prevailing standards.”