Discussion of Sources for Second Group Project

Primary & Ambulatory Care Division, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. (2008). Background on the Campaign. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from: http://www.skincancer.gov.au/internet/skincancer/publishing.nsf/Content/background-1 

The Australian Government educates Australians about how important it is to protect them from skin cancer.  They especially focus on young people.  They promote multiple sun protection behaviors and aim to increase awareness about how serious the development of skin cancer is.  The campaign primarily targets adolescences from the age of 13 to 17 years of age and young adults from 18 to 24 years of age.  They target young people because they are the ones that have the tendency to get sunburn and they also have the worst sun protection behaviors.  This campaign is a beneficial source to our campaign because it shows how to target young people, which is primarily the largest target group for sun skin care.  The campaign gives great ideas on how to attract people’s attention such as short films, community service announcements, print advertisements and radio commercials.  One of the print ads was titled “Don’t Let Your Time in the Sun Catch Up with You” and was very graphic.  It had a close up of skin cancer and what someone’s skin would look like after skin cancer surgery.  This caught my attention because of how horrific it was. I think that real pictures of people who have had skin cancer surgery are disturbing, but defiantly let people see the side effects of the sun that they wouldn’t normally think about. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008). What CDC is Doing. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/what_cdc_is_doing/ 

The Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) provides direction for worldwide efforts to reduce illness and death caused by skin cancer. The CDC tells people “when in the sun, seek shade, cover up, get a hat, wear glasses, and use sunscreen.” The CDC helps incorporate skin cancer education into elementary schools and allows sun safety questions to be asked without any intimidation.  They also have a campaign for outdoor areas to be shaded, which I think would be an excellent idea for our campaign. For our campaign, shade shelters could be available at the concert, which would promote skin health care in addition to the sun block that would be passed out.