The future skin health of the nation’s children is potentially at risk as parents admit that 59% of children under 18 have been sunburned at least once. Highlighted by a new British Skin Foundation survey of UK parents, this worrying statistic indicates that sun safety measures may not always be taken seriously. 

Attitudes towards sun safety behaviours

A deeper dive into sun safety attitudes confirms that less than half of children, just 42%, carry and know how to use sunscreen in the summer months. A shocking three quarters, 75%, don’t understand the benefits of seeking shade in the summer and only 13% wear UPF clothing. Whilst 58% of children wear hats, only around a third, 34%, wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from UV rays. 

Understanding the importance of sun safety

Understanding of sun safe behaviour is limited as only one in five children (21%) grasp that sun safety measures combine use of sunscreen, protective clothing including hats and sunglasses and seeking shade. Just 22% of children realise that sun protection is vital to their future health.

How can we tackle the worrying trend of worrying attitudes towards skin health?

This summer, the British Skin Foundation launched a new sun safety campaign, ‘More, More, More,’ with a basic message to combine MORE protective clothing, MORE sunscreen and MORE shade to protect your skin.

Consultant Dermatologist and British Skin Foundation, Dr Emma Wedgeworth, welcomes the campaign.

‘These days there are so many sources out there for people to turn to for advice, sometimes it can become overwhelming. Combine that with tricky sunscreen labelling and confusing vitamin D messaging, people can just ‘check out’. Stripping the advice back to three fundamental steps helps to make the advice manageable and memorable.’

Chris Dooley, Head of Social Impact at JCDecaux UK says,

‘We’re proud to support such a valuable campaign this summer. It’s vital to keep our skin safe, especially during the summer months and promote sensible skin health. The JCDecaux Community Channel was created to open up access to Out-of-Home to both charitable initiatives and communities and I look forward to seeing the ‘More, More, More’ campaign up on the streets.

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