The initiative could set a precedent in the UK and the European Union and if successful may see sunscreen providers becoming increasingly involved in the prescription category, an area where the category currently has limited distribution.
Tenovus is the leading cancer awareness charity in Wales and is aiming to educate younger children on the dangers of unprotected exposure to UV rays by targeting the protection of younger and more vulnerable skin, in turn helping to prevent the onset of skin cancer in later years.
Campaign targets sunscreen message to children
The campaign forms part of the charity’s health and wellbeing programme, which has seen it represented by its distinctive ‘Tenovus Suncream’ van at numerous family events across the country during the course of the year.
This has provided a platform to promote its Here Comes the Sun awareness programme, which is campaigning to make high protection UVA and UVB sunscreens available for free to all Welsh children under the age of 11.
The campaign involves an interactive school programme called The Sun and You, which targets children aged 7 to 14 through the proper use of sunscreens as apart of a number of core curriculum subjects.
Targeting a fast-growing category
Dr. Ian Lewis, Tenovus associate director of research, highlighted how the campaign has been underscored by a petition containing over 9,000 signatures which was submitted to the Welsh government earlier this week.
According to Euromonitor, the global market for sun protection products has grown from $4.40bn in 2005 to reach $7.05bn in 2010, representing an industry-leading increase of 60.3 per cent.
This significant market growth underlines the growing importance of the sun protection market, while emphasizing the growing influence awareness campaigns by cancer groups such as Tenovus are having on consumer product take-up.