Sunbeds emit 15x more UVA than the sun, The World Health Organisation declared them carcinogenic to humans. They remain legal in the UK under the Sunbed Regulation Act.

On the anniversary of the law, we launched a call to action –calling on the Government to strengthen the regulations.

Staying under a sunbed for the time allowed, damages your skin irreparably. It blisters. It burns. So we did the same to the law.

We put the law in a sunbed, and watched it burn. Using the law against itself to create a newly designed law, filled with the symptoms of melanoma.

SkinCancerUK are a recently formed patient support group who raise awareness around the causes of skin cancer, as well as help support people that have been diagnosed. Skin cancer rates ar rising rapidly in the UK, part of this is due to the increase in the use of sunbeds. Fuelled by the rise in social media and influencers promoting them online. Sunbeds are legal in the UK and are regulated by the Sunbed Regulation Act (2010).

Despite the law being in place, 100 people die each year due to sunbeds. We needed to highlight the dangers of sunbed use as well as lobbying to change the current law to tighten restrictions.

On April 8th 2010, after much lobbying from cancer charities, the UK Government passed a new bill – the Sunbed Regulation Act. The act regulates the use of tanning devices, the ultraviolet radiation (UVA) levels permitted, and the amount of time people are allowed to spend on sunbeds.

14 years later, 100 people die each year due to sunbed use and 46 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each day.

That’s because today’s world looks very different–social media, influencers and reality TV stars have more sway than ever before. Whether it’s Kim Kardashian posting about her sunbed, or the 718m TikTok views of #sunbed content, people continue to use sunbeds, melanoma skin cancer cases are increasing, and the regulation is clearly unfit for purpose.

SkinCancerUK asked for an idea to raise awareness of the danger of sunbeds, highlight the deficiencies in the regulation and, ultimately, stop people dying unnecessarily.

We placed printed copies of the law on a sunbed and left them for the amount of time people spend on them each year. As the law was exposed, it began burning, taking on characteristics of melanoma such as raised spots with differing colour edges.

Cover pages were designed to explain what had happened to the law and burnt alongside it. .

Each element was designed to encapsulate the dangers of sunbeds. The black set design and website allowed the glow of UV lights as well as the burnt laws to stand out and create maximum impact.