New SunSmart summer campaign

Victorians adolescents and young adults are the focus of a new melanoma awareness campaign being shown for the first time in Victoria this summer

The Wes Bonny story tells the true story of a 26 year old young man who died of a melanoma in March 2010. The commercials feature interviews with Wes’ family and close friends. The campaign challenges beliefs that skin cancer and melanoma are not serious and do not affect young people. It also reminds the audience that there is more that most people can do to protect themselves from the sun and to prevent skin cancer.

There are four Wes Bonny commercials – the 90 second ad is used selectively to tell the whole story and three 30 second ads are used together to highlight different elements of Wes’ story. Wes Bonny Testimonial story commences in cinemas on 19 January 2012 and on state-wide TV from Sunday 22 January.

View the Wes Bonny TVCs at: www.sunsmart.com.au/wes_bonny_media_campaign

Wes’ story will be shown alongside the Dark Side of Tanning advertisements, running for the third consecutive season in Victoria. The Dark Side of Tanning commercials aim to reach adolescents and young people to increase awareness of the dangers of melanoma and tanning by challenging the misconception that a tan looks healthy and graphically illustrating how a melanoma can spread throughout the body. A series of different “tanner moments" are portrayed, each focusing on a different priority setting/target group – Girl Beach and Boy Footy. The television commercials, which commenced on state-wide television on Sunday 18 December, are supported by outdoor media advertisements.

View the Dark Side of Tanning TVCs at: www.sunsmart.com.au/dark_side_of_tanning_media_campaign

Both campaigns were developed by the Cancer Institute NSW.

This information was provided by Sunsmart.