Tanning products are being advertised in Australia across social media, influencing young people on TikTok and Instagram to lie out in the sun with the express purpose of tanning their skin.

Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world (2020 study, WCRF) and overexposure to UV light from the sun causes 95 per cent of melanomas (Melanoma Institute Australia).

The Department of Health needs to thoroughly investigate the advertising and marketing of tanning products in Australia and act quickly to prevent young people from following dangerous trends generations before them have paid the price for. 

We want to see a ban on advertising products that have no SPF but are designed to be worn in the sun to encourage a tan, and strict regulations around tanning products in general, in particular how they are allowed to be advertised and marketed in Australia.