Liverpool City Council – The Look To Die For?

Influence on girls

The campaign was pushed out by Liverpool City Council at fake tan tours, designed to build knowledge skills and confidence.

41% of girls aged 13-30 that attended reported using a sunbed. Amongst this group there was a 417% increase in girls that took the risk of skin cancer from using sunbeds ‘very seriously’ following the event.

In 2010 research had shown that skin cancer was the fastest growing cancer in 18–35 year olds in the UK. New legislation was then passed that banned under-18s from using sunbeds, with or without parental consent.

This was a huge problem in Liverpool, where 50% of girls aged 15–17 years old in the city had used a sunbed, much higher than the national average of just 11%.

 he common perception at the time was that sunbed use was safe and legal, as a result young girls were often influenced by peer pressure when choosing between sunbeds and fake tan. Although teenage girls in Liverpool knew there was a link between sunbeds and skin cancer, they felt this only related to extreme use; believing that using them 2–3 times a week was ‘normal’ and ‘safe’.

Research showed that girls used sunbeds as a way to increase confidence and self-esteem. There was little motivation to use alternatives such as fake tan, due to a lack of confidence in applying it to look natural and streak-free. Sunbeds represented a safe, cheap way to get a more natural tan that gave their skin a ‘healthy glow’, leading to improved confidence and self esteem.

All this information helped to form our creative response and meet all the objectives set out in the brief for the various target markets – uncommitted users, committed users, devoted users and influencers.

When we looked at the insight research, it was clear to see the key driving forces behind teenage girls’ sunbed use in Liverpool. They wanted to get the ‘Liverpool look’, feel more attractive, be fashionable and increase their self esteem.

How these girls look is very important to them. But is it worth dying for? Or is it worth risking the disfigurement and scarring that can come from skin cancer? We knew that if we could get girls to question their reasoning for using sunbeds then we could provoke a real behavioural change.

We were also aware that this audience were switched off to medical messages. In order to have any real impact with our target demographic we needed to find a way of making our message interesting, engaging, fashionable and hard hitting.

It was a key consideration of ours to ensure that all our messages and devices were stylish and cool enough to generate conversation and social debate amongst groups of friends and their peers.

To achieve our goals we decided to literally portray the damage that sunbeds do to your skin. We revealed the truth behind the ‘attractive’ looks that our target audience aspired to. This gave girls a peak behind the veneer of perfection that’s seen in magazines and on TV. It’s not quite so attractive when you know the facts.

There was also a strong link between mothers and daughters using sunbeds, with mothers often thinking it was safe and often condoning their daughter’s behaviour. We knew that showing parents the risks would make them take the issue more seriously and discuss it with their children. To this end, we created influencer-specific leaflets that spoke directly to mothers/fathers/guardians and made them aware of the facts.

Misinformation was another obstacle we faced. There were lots of myths and misunderstandings about tanning and sunbeds, so we tackled this directly by including a myth busting feature in our mini-magazines.

We were also keen to promote the positive alternative of fake tan. This meant that we had to ensure that our creative execution could champion fake tan as part of the campaign. All this combined to give us a beautiful and striking campaign that was highly effective with our target audience.

We delivered a compelling campaign through a multi-channel approach that was used offline through print, outdoor. This was supported online with a dedicated website and social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

The campaign was taken into schools, which also had very positive results: 94% pupils felt their knowledge about the risks of sunbeds had improved.

Of those pupils who had never used a sunbed before 97% said they would never use one following the session.

61% of sunbed users would never use them again.

Influence on mothers

22% of mothers of the target audience that attended events reported using a
sunbed.

Amongst this group, there was a 100% increase in those that took the risk of skin cancer from using sunbeds ‘very seriously’ following the event.

54% of all mothers who attended events said they would speak to their children about the dangers of sunbed use or tell them to stop using sunbeds following the event.

Influence on social

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