BITE Insight

What SPF do you wear? Or do you just not bother? A bit of sunburn isn’t so bad, after all, it’ll turn to tan pretty quickly. But even if you are one of the more conscientious ones slapping on the SPF 30 or above, have you checked what your sun cream’s UVA rating is?

This is the question at the heart of Soltan’s summer campaign created with Ogilvy UK, Be Certain with Soltan, which looks to raise awareness of the long-term effects of UVA damage. They worked from the insight that 51% of parents are more focused on the SPF of a sun cream than its ability to protect children from harmful UVA rays, which can cause permanent damage.

The power of the campaign comes in the simplicity of the imagery. Kids on holiday at the beach, cozzies on, towels draped around shoulders and goggles perched on heads. The noticeable difference in this holiday picture however are the tattooed words on their faces: ‘Sun damage for life’. The implication is that the sun damage you can get is as permanent as a tattoo.

The campaign’s focus on children makes the black calligraphy of the facial tattoo even more powerfully shocking, reminding everyone, not just parents, to be more aware when choosing your next bottle of sun cream.