Skin Cancer Commercials

As each day passes whilst I'm living in Sydney, Australia I am blown away by the constant, in-your-face ad campaigns about skin cancer. Every street corner in every suburb has skin-cancer clinics and posters promoting the constant use and reapplication of sunscreen. Bondi beach is not only bustling with handsome surfers, but tourists, kids and locals all lathering their bronzed bodies with loads of sunblock. I have never seen a nation of people so aware and so active about any disease as Aussies are with skin cancer. Perhaps the gaping hole in the ozone layer above Australia has something to do with it, or the former lack of knowledge about skin cancer and the peak in numbers of cases, but awareness is the hottest thing around Sydney this summer. Devout outdoorsman Aussies are always surfing, playing cricket traveling or playing footy, their lives revolve around the sun and so too does their health. Whether they are watching the Cricket at the Sydney Cricket Grounds in blazing summer heat or simply watching their pooch down the road, they are always wearing copious amounts of sunscreen. All children (youngsters till teens) are obliged to wear large hats to school to protect them from the suns dangers, and similarly government sponsored commercials constantly show the ramifications of getting burned. Hopefully this sense of skin health and cancer awareness will spread to their western counterparts in the northern hemisphere.