November 29, 2009
Perth’s City Beach will be transformed into a ‘crime scene’ on Sunday November 29 to launch a new campaign aimed at showing young Western Australians the deadly side of tanning.
A total of 197 beach towels emblazoned with a ‘crime scene’ chalk outline of a ‘victim’ will be laid out across the beach this morning to illustrate the number of Western Australians who die from skin cancer each year.
The ‘Dark Side of Tanning’ television campaign graphically represents the damaging impact of overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and the deadly nature of melanoma, which is one of the most common cancers in young Western Australians.
The commercials take viewers inside the skin cells of a young woman deliberately tanning and young man on a sports field. It graphically illustrates how a deadly melanoma as small as a pin-head can spread throughout the body.
Cancer Council WA SunSmart Manager Kerry O’Hare said with the first day of summer almost here, the campaign aimed to dispel the myth that a tan was a sign of good health.
"The truth is that a tan is a sign of your skin cells in trauma. In fact, you don't even have to burn to cause damage to your skin cells. The campaign shows what really happens when your skin is exposed to too much UV radiation,” Ms O’Hare said.
In WA, more than 20 percent of all cancers in 15-39 year olds are melanomas and these numbers don’t include the burden of non-melonama skin cancer.
18-year-old Bunbury man Mitchell Smith sports a large scar at the base of his neck – the legacy of major surgery to remove a melanoma when he was 16.
“I like to wear shirts that show my scar so it can act as a warning to others. I am happy to tell anyone who asks about it how I got the scar and that they should do everything they can to avoid getting melanoma,” Mitchell said.
“If I can stop one young kid from going through what I have been through I will be happy. I even give talks at the local high school so kids will understand that melanoma is not an old person’s disease.”
Melanoma only has to be 1mm deep to be dangerous and it can spread and reappear in vital organs sometimes years after it has been cut out of the skin.
Ms O’Hare said Cancer Council research showed that 20 percent of teenagers get sunburnt on a typical weekend with most getting sunburnt at the beach or playing sport.”
“We also know from research that 48 percent of WA adolescents still like to get a tan and young women are more likely to attempt a tan over the summer months.”
Ms O’Hare said two television commercials would target both young men and women.
Ms O’Hare said the message behind the skin cancer campaigns is important for all
Western Australians.
"In WA alone 197 people will die from skin cancer (melanoma and non melanoma skin cancer) each year – equivalent to WA’s annual road toll," she said.
"The simple message is there is no such thing as a safe tan.”
Media Contact:
Bridget Egan – Cancer Council WA – 0412 005 222
