The campaign is looking to utilise the strengths of social media to have the biggest impact, having launched the campaign on Twitter and Facebook, with a dedicated video featuring on YouTube.
The campaign has already launched earlier in the year in Australia and Latin America, but comes to Europe and sees a host of mole checking road show events which will take place in cities around the world in the near future.
"Melanoma, however, remains the only preventable cancer for which the mortality rate has not declined over the last few decades and we are astounded at the lack of people who currently check their own moles at home," says Elisabeth Araujo, International Director of La Roche-Posay.
"We believe that this campaign can make a real difference in the fight against skin cancer - a fight which starts by taking a good look at ourselves and the ones we love.”
Positive message
The skin care brand has taken steps to send a positive message around the campaign, as you can see in the video below, as the topic of skin cancer can often be a scary and difficult subject to broach.
The video features a family of Dalmatians checking each other’s spots, encouraging people to do the same for loved ones, to visit the doctor if necessary and ends on the empowering message for people to take on the responsibility to save someone’s life and ‘become a skin checker.’
According to research firm Ipsos, 73% of people surveyed about skin cancer said they cared more for the health of a loved one than their own health.
La Roche-Posay is looking to tap into this mindset and use social media for awareness, and says that 90% of melanomas can be treated successfully if they are diagnosed early.
“This study highlights several inner conflicts that respondents are going through: between the awareness of the risks and the desire to expose oneself to the sun, but also between the knowledge of the signs of potential skin cancer and the unwillingness to take the leap of a systematic and regular mole check, be it self- or dermatologist provided," says Laïla Idtaleb, Director of the Health Department at IPSOS.
"The survey also demonstrates how the outcomes of these tensions vary between countries, genders, age groups and education levels.”
Awareness
The campaign builds on the work the L’Oreal brand has done over the past five years having run road show events before and launched similar awareness campaigns.
The hope is that with this one, the social impact and new positive video will help increase awareness further, and hopefully save lives.
Speaking to marketing publication, The Drum, head of L’Oréal’s Active Cosmetics Division, Yannick Raynaud, says: "If you look at awareness campaigns in the industry for many years most of them have taken an alarmist and scare tactic approach which might not be resonating strongly with consumers because they don’t want to be in the situation of facing almost certain death."
"We hope to create a social impact to make sure that everyone can become an ambassador."