Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach became a massive ‘crime scene’ on Sunday, 15 November (start of National Skin Cancer Action Week) in a new Cancer Council campaign that graphically depicts the dangers of tanning.
Startled beachgoers were greeted by the sight of 1700 towels stretched across the sand, each emblazoned with a ‘crime scene’ chalk outline of a ‘victim’. The towels are a graphic representation of the 1700 Australians who die each year from skin cancer.
An installation of exorbitant scale, Cancer Council Australia drew attention to the serious issue by playing off the popular public imagery of TV crime shows to engage with the younger demographic. With one in four teens still getting sunburnt on a typical summer weekend, and 43 per cent of teens believing a suntan ‘looks healthy’ Cancer Council believed it was time to send an “unambiguous message” about the deadly risks of tanning.
The event attracted significant media coverage. The campaign also features an edgy 30 second television commercial starring actress Nicole da Silva (of RUSH fame), as a crime scene detective following the case on Bondi Beach. The commercial is set to run for the entirety of the summer to continue to remind the Australian public of the consequences of unprotected exposure to the sun.
Please click here to watch our TV commercial on You Tube