Olympic Season Gets Skin-Deep With Unassuming Melanoma Billboards

Images via Neverland

With the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tour de France, Wimbledon, and Euro 2024 all sprinting nearly in tandem, the Melanoma Fund—a UK-based charity dedicated to skin cancer prevention—is using sports to spotlight the dangers of neglecting sun protection during the summer.

Image via Melanoma Fund

Despite melanoma being nearly 100% curable at stage one, it remains one of the deadliest cancers, causing over 2,300 deaths annually in the UK alone. The organization’s “hard-hitting” new campaign, called Silhouettes, reminds outdoor sports enthusiasts to pair their share of sunshine and sweat with sunscreen, and to get their skin checked for the condition. Created by advertising agency Neverland and supported by Clear Channel, a series of posters features seemingly harmless moles morphing into melanomas, each shaped to resemble an athlete—a soccer player, a swimmer, and a cyclist.

These silhouettes denote the sports represented by Sunguard ambassadors Rosie Muggeridge, Christian Lawal, and Daniel Whittaker, who all have real-life connections to raising awareness about skin health. The impactful images were captured by prominent photographer James Day, who worked closely with specialist skin cancer surgeon Mr Siva Kumar to ensure authenticity in the visuals.

Images via Melanoma Fund

“Although getting active outdoors has many health benefits, too many sportspeople neglect sun protection, underestimating the deadly risk they are taking,” explains the surgeon. “By highlighting that not wearing sunscreen during outdoor sports can be fatal, we aim to drive home the importance of sun safety, helping prevent and detect melanoma early, and save lives.”

[via Ads of the World, Campaign UK, THEINSPIRATION, images via various sources]