‘DiagnostiCookies’ Bake Signs Of Melanoma Into Snackable Bite-Sized Pieces
Image via Wunderman Thompson
Hoping to crunch the lack of awareness surrounding skin cancer, the Horarios Dermatology Clinic in Brazil has baked up unusual ‘DiagnostiCookies’ that aren’t just empty calories—they’re edible PSAs too.
Brazil is the country with the highest rate of solar radiation in the world, with more than 70 million locals reportedly working under the sun all day long. Needless to say, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the nation.
Working together with marketing communications agency Wunderman Thompson, the clinic remembered that Brazilians love cookies. The little treats are doled out almost everywhere in the country to give the adoring public a yummy pick-me-up.
Well, it just so happens that cookies kind of look like melanoma moles too, as unsavory as that sounds. As such, “we turned Brazilians’ eternal love for cookies into a way to spot cancerous moles and save lives,” says Wunderman Thompson.
DiagnostiCookies are an easy, and, not to mention, delicious, way to help citizens recognize odd and even cancerous moles, which sometimes have uneven borders, are asymmetrical, multi-color, or are wider than six millimeters. Eaters can now distinguish healthy pigmented skin marks from potentially problematic ones with side-by-side comparisons of lookalike cookies printed on the box.
The packaging also informs people that if a mole changes characteristics, they may need to seek medical help as it could be the result of a malignant transformation.
“Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer, but it’s also the most treatable with an early diagnosis,” says Dr Ligiane Pupo of the Horarios Dermatology Clinic. “DiagnostiCookies is an easy way to teach people how to examine their skin so they can detect melanoma and seek treatment, which can help prevent 99% of melanoma deaths.”
[via Wunderman Thompson, images via various sources]
