La Liga Contra el Cáncer, a public health initiative, is raising awareness of the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation with a roadside billboard campaign in Peru, that communicated the dangers of unprotected exposure to the sun.
Spearheaded by McCann Lima, the campaign piggybacks on existing billboards peppering the South American nation's main coastal highway, which draws an average of 1.6m journeys as Lima residents decamp to the beach.
McCann painstakingly daubed sunscreen on every face depicted by 21 different brands currently advertising along the Panamericana Sur, including Coca-Cola, Ford and Pepsi.
Discussing the campaign, Christian Caldwell, chief creative officer of McCann Lima, said: “With this idea, we would like to have kilometers of billboards calling people to protect themselves, so nobody can have excuses to forget to use sunblock as all the models show their skin protected.
"It was awesome to get tens of brands involved in an idea that has an important social purpose. It´s a way of saying that all of us have to be involved, that it´s a cross-sectional task; while letting brands to be meaningful in people´s lives.”
Peru is subject to the highest incidences of ultraviolet radiation in the world, fueling an alarming rise in skin cancer rates.
: '#IUseSunblock'
Peru ranks first in the world for ultraviolet radiation, and skin cancer has been increasing alarmingly with around a thousand new cases of melanoma.
To make people more aware of this issue, and the need to protect themselves, McCann Lima developed the initiative #YoUsoBloqueador (#IUseSunblock).
And painted sunblock onto the faces on the billboards of 21 brands that advertise on the Panamericana Sur.
This is the busiest highway in Lima and on the country´s coastline, where in the summer season an average of 1.6m vehicles take to the road to travel to the country's beaches.
