L'Oreal's skin care brand La Roche-Posay has released a YouTube video featuring dalmatians, highlighting the need to check skin for sun damage regularly and protect your skin from the sun.
The video is part of the company's international multimedia and social media-based SkinChecker campaign, which also includes guidance on how to develop good sun habits and evaluate your skin and moles. Citing that "90% of melanomas detected on time can be treated successfully," Roche-Posay advocates the ABCDE method to monitor changes in moles, which allows you to track the asymmetry, border, colour, diameter and evolution of moles.
La Roche-Posay is the sun protection brand partner of the British Association of Dermatologists 2015 Sun Awareness Campaign, and its website quotes United Nations figures on the cost of lack of protection from the sun: More than two million skin care cancers are diagnosed annually around the world, a number that is "set to double between 2000 and 2015 in countries where the majority of the population has white skin."
The campaign notes that in a survey on skin cancer, 94% of respondents knew the dangers of sun care exposure, but that only 12% protected their skin all year.
The SkinChecker campaign utilises research studies showing that 65% of people care more for a loved one's health than their own to increase awareness of the issue.
In the feel-good video, therefore, footage of Dalmatian adults and puppies is intercut with the slogan "If you care for somebody, have a look at their beauty spots." The digital campaign will be bolstered by a UK road show with free mole screenings, starting in London during Sun Awareness Week, 4-10 May. The UK campaign follows earlier campaigns in Australia and South America.
L'Oreal's most recent financial reports show an 8.5% increase in sales to €6bn in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company's Active Cosmetics division, which includes La Roche-Posay, showed 5.3% year-on-year growth, with record year end sales of €1.7bn.
La Roche-Posay's Anthelios (for sun-sensitive skin) and Effaclar (for oily skin) sun care brands experienced significant growth, and the global SkinChecker campaign is aimed at also raising awareness of the brand.
