Fashion = Skin Cancer?

The Cancer Council has fears that fashion is a contributing factor to teenagers ignoring warnings about skin cancer.

David Wild from the Cancer Council believes the idea that suntans are made out to be “cool, hip and healthy” is a big problem and thinks fashion is partly to blame for this. Schools will soon be given educational resources about skin cancer in the hope it will deter youngsters from burning themselves to a crisp.

Apparently teens are the worst offenders and are simply not getting the “slip, slop, slap” message. I would have thought that young people would have realised that nobody has real tans anymore; just fake ones.

I can understand how one would make the assumption that it’s fashion’s fault. But in reality, I think that fashion/beauty writers advocate for fake tans instead of the real thing. The amount of fake tanning ads I see in both print and on television is amazing. How could you not get the message?

Does anyone else agree that tanned skin looks so gross on really old people – like all those years sunning themselves has turned their skin to leather?