We recently discussed the the long and successful history of Sunsmart in Australia. With the incidence of skin cancer rising globally now linked to increasing UV exposure and, potentially, climate change, Sunsmart’s message is more important than ever.
As we head into another southern hemisphere summer, Sunsmart’s work will again become apparent and visible, notably in the form of large sunhats on primary school children (perhaps one of their most significant and effective initiatives). And their work has had some profound results.
Sitting quietly, almost hidden in the ‘Our Achievements” section of their website, is the remarkable, but humbly formatted statement that Sunsmart has, ‘decreased rates of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer in young people’.
This result for Sunsmart was achieved through years of hard work. Dynamic and strategic awareness campaigns have been carried out, adhering to a long term strategy aimed at gradually developing and shifting our understanding and behaviour in relation to UV and sun protection. And it’s continuing to work today.
Reviewing the progression of Sunsmart’s messages over the last 29 years, it becomes apparent that they focused their attention on the education of an entire generation of Australians. The generation that experienced a decrease in melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer is the generation that began their Sunsmart education with a cartoon of Sid the seagull singing Slip, Slip, Slap. Although an awkward, dorky campaign, the slogan is etched in the memory of people who were children in Australia in the 1980’s.
It’s surely no accident that ten years later a new campaign was released; the distinctly more mature, “You can leave your hat on”. Given that the audience who were enjoying cartoons in the 80’s would now be in their mid to late teens, the campaign is pitched at an attention grabbing level and the message is consistent.
In the mid 90’s Sunsmart then launched one of the very first shock advertising campaigns, “How to remove a skin cancer”. It showed in graphic detail the surgery required to remove a skin cancer and graft skin onto the surgery site. Admittedly this would grab the attention of anyone, but the now-young-adults with an inexplicably fond memory of a Joe Cocker song would be young enough to be shocked and remember it, and old enough to understand it.
The year 2000 saw the repeat of shock tactics, but coupled with the conceptual idea of skin cancer being a ‘time-bomb’ in your skin. This was developed to translate onto radio and print as well as television, and again targeted at the young adults.
The turn of the century marked a slight change in direction for Sunsmart campaigns, as a threat other than the sun was emerging as a probable cause for an increase in skin cancer incidence.
The “Tattoo” campaign, instigated by the insight that young people understood the dangers of sunburn but did not associate the same risk with getting a tan, sought to broaden young people’s awareness with the strap line “Skin cancer – it’s killer body art”
After the campaign, research showed that 71% of people interviewed remembered the ad and 78% confirmed it would make them rethink their tanning behaviour.
The most recent Sunsmart campaign takes on a documentary tone, as the story of Australian, Clare Oliver is revealed in her own words. Battling late stage melanoma, brought on by sunbed use and tanning behaviour, Clare Oliver initially revealed her heartbreaking story on news and current affairs programs.
After her death, Clare’s family gave permission for interview footage to be used in a Sunsmart ad. Clare’s own words, ‘Choose life, choose to be fair’ and given extra weight by the truth of her story and the ad’s central message, that ‘No tan is worth dying for’.
Sunsmart’s other achievements see Australians not only having the most tightly regulated and controlled sunbed industry in the world, but our desire to be tanned has actually been decreased. The fact that Sunsmart has had a noticeable effect on our population’s attitude means that even without the tight regulations on sunbeds, their use would likely be in decline. Changing an attitude and understanding of risk creates a longer term solution than attempting to control behaviour and is an achievement for which Sunsmart should be applauded.
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