Black Skin Directory launches groundbreaking campaign for Sun Awareness Week
Today (May 6) the Black Skin Directory has launched a new first-of-its-kind campaign to tie in with Sun Awareness Week aimed at educating people about the dangers of skin cancer in skin of colour.
The Black Skin Directory was founded with a mission to deliver people of colour with the skincare expertise and knowledge that they deserve. Education is at the forefront of this platform and one such area that increasingly needs to be focused on is sun protection.
Medical evidence currently shows that the melanoma mortality rate 1.5 times higher amongst the black population. Founder Dija Ayodele, Black Skin Directory said, "Clinical evidence shows that darker skin demographic is less likely to develop skin cancer, but yet have a higher mortality rate than Caucasians. This is not a fact that many people are aware of and is due to various reasons ranging from a lack of engagement with skin health messaging around sun protection to health professionals and research focusing more on the white population where skin cancer rates are higher to suncare brands being slow to adequately market to darker skin tones. All these factors combined have contributed to the dichotomy in skin cancer and its survival rates in the black population.”
To hammer home their message of the importance of sun protection for darker skin tones and as means to rectify the issue of lack visibility in marketing and advertising of sun care to people of colour, Black Skin Directory has partnered with leading Swiss suncare brand, Ultrasun to launch the UK's first campaign that directly speaks to a black audience.
Although conceptions around suncare within the black community are changing, it needs increasing awareness and visibility of the message is key. “I’m absolutely delighted that the team at Black Skin Directory has opened a serious fact based dialogue on the concerning ratio of lower risk to higher mortality rates in skin cancer among those with darker skin tones. We jumped at the chance to lend our support to the Black Skin Directory in their efforts to set the record straight. I truly hope that this campaign, laying out the facts as it does, encourages the black community to reconsider their views on UV protection and to add a high UVA and UVB filter to their daily routine year round." - Abi Cleeve, Ultrasun
The multi level campaign features the UK’s first advert advocating sun protection for people of colour, which will be digitally premiered at the beginning of Sun Awareness Week on 6th May. The public debut will also coincide with the launch of the BSD #ProtectYourMelanin e-shop featuring a curated selection of sun care products that have proven efficacy for darker skin tones, including the Ultrasun SPF30 Sports Gel - a fast-absorbing, non-greasy, non sticky, transparent UVA and UVB sun protection gel.
