Would you think it an unfair comment to suggest the mainstream media has entrenched views about tanning bed use? Some may think this is quite a suggestion, given that our media really should be impartial, independent and, of course, professional. And I have to say, I genuinely have no doubt there are indeed a few individuals and elements of the monster-that-is-the-media where these values are still in practice and held in high regard.[gap height=”15″]
But in a world that now thrives on a constant feed of information from a whole spectrum of reliable (and unreliable) sources, is there really enough time for journalists to do their jobs properly? Of course, there should be; but the reality suggests otherwise. Let’s just consider for one moment, the typical media coverage that indoor tanning gets. Time and time again, the media demonstrates its inability to look past the soundbite of an attention-grabbing press release headline.[gap height=”15″]
Now of course, that’s the press release doing its job. But, the job of a professional journalist must surely be to recognise the tactic in play and check out the validity of the content that follows. Unfortunately, when it comes to attacks on the indoor tanning industry, journalists appear to accept information issued by otherwise reputable organisations as facts that require no further validation.[gap height=”15″]
If you then factor in a celebrity who has a story to tell; even the most overt commercial collaborations can be swept under the carpet, unchallenged and deemed irrelevant.[gap height=”15″]
We had a recent media story in the UK in which an actor in her mid-forties called for a ban on tanning bed use. She was, unfortunately, diagnosed a few years ago with melanoma and admitted to having had a lifelong obsession with tanning in the sun. At the time of her diagnosis, she was quoted in the media saying, “I’ve had wonderful holidays, always on a sun-lounger and anywhere hot, including Sri Lanka, Florida and Cuba.”; “I’d be out there from the moment the sun rose to the time it set and usually had a great suntan”; “I’ve had to re-educate my relationship with the sun.” Separate to these confessions, she also has a very significant number of moles, which we know would put her more at risk when over-exposing to the sun.[gap height=”15″]
So, why call now to ban tanning beds? She had previously stated she had a tanning bed at home when she was 18, which she used a couple of times a week for one year – hardly obsessive and certainly wouldn’t constitute tanning abuse. Simple math demonstrates that using it a couple of times a week over a year would equate to far less UV exposure than just one-week of sunbathing at the level of her former habits on holiday in the hot sun![gap height=”15″]
Yet, this second wave of publicity was focused on a call for a sunbed ban and there wasn’t any reference to her excessive and longstanding sunbathing habits. So, what had changed? A quick social media search identified the answer: she is now an ambassador for an SPF manufacturer’s campaign and it’s hardly likely that an SPF company is going to run a campaign calling for a sunbathing ban![gap height=”15″]
Yet, all her readily accessible, self-confessed UV overexposure was from sunshine. Her anti-sunbed story got TV, print and online coverage, and not a single item I could find mentioned her excessive sunbathing habits. [gap height=”15″]
We are guided by science in this matter, and it’s time to stop pointing the finger at sunbeds and focus on educating people about responsible tanning. Yet, until the media is prepared to look beyond the soundbite and pull away from entrenched views, we have a job on our hands – wherever we live in the world![gap height=”15″]
