The target audience for Free Killer Tan was women aged 18-24. Large-scale independent studies have found that this demographic is the most likely to tan, and melanoma is the second most common cancer for this group.

According to the US Federal Trade Commission, advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. In addition, the Federal Drug Administration advises that disease-related advertisements/communications (1) be disease- or health condition-specific, enhance education, be clear and accurate, and contain a responsible public health message.

Mollie’s Fund had a simple objective: prevent 18-24 year-old women from getting their first indoor tan, because just one tanning session increases the risk of deadly melanoma by 20%.

Our solution—Free Killer Tan.

To make the dangers of indoor tanning real, Mollie’s Fund created a fake indoor tanning salon and offered customers a Free Killer Tan. Once inside, these unsuspecting tanners discovered they were actually attending their own funeral—complete with a tanning-bed casket and an R.I.P. poster with their picture on it.

This experience was filmed and shared across social media, ultimately expanding our reach to over 120 million people—and causing many young people to pledge to their friends, family, and other social connections “I’ll never tan again.”

The goal was to reach 100,000 18-24 year-old women before Spring Break holiday. During this period many young women get their first indoor tan—a “base”—in anticipation of their trip.

We focused in on this key demographic because large-scale independent studies have found them the most likely to tan, and melanoma is the second most common cancer for this group. We wanted to intervene before serious tanning damage was done—and hopefully avoid it completely.

Our mock tanning salon opened in late November, at the beginning of indoor tanning season.

We recruited would-be tanners with a street team and online. Once inside our tanning salon, unsuspecting patrons discovered they were actually attending their own funeral—complete with a tanning-bed casket. Everyone’s experiences were captured on hidden camera and shared online with the world, starting February 3rd (the time before Spring Break).

The video was placed on the freekillertan.com microsite where visitors sent friends coupons for a free killer tan that linked back to the video. The video was also placed on Youtube.

A targeted post on Facebook targeting 18-24 year old women invited them to watch the video and join the conversation. On Twitter, we connected with sororities and fraternities, resulting in demonstrations and live events around the country to ban tanning beds from campuses.

Within 2 weeks, the online video was viewed in every country in the world.

• 120 million+ overall media impressions

• 1 million Youtube video views

o 90% were in our key demographic

• 1 million Facebook video views

o 95% were in our key demographic

o 10 million impressions

o 9.5k likes

o 7.6k shares

o 2k comments

• 25K unique visitors to FreeKillerTan.com

• Hundreds of TV stations (national and local) and online social news outlets covered the story

• University students petitioned to ban indoor tanning on campus

• Thousands of 18-24 year olds publicly proclaimed that they will never tan again:

“Watch this because I care about you”

“I’ll never tan again”

“What an INCREDIBLE MESSAGE. I got chills”

“I’m going to start spray tanning”

“Stop tanning, please!”

And thousands more...

The goal was to reach 100,000 18-24 year-old women before Spring Break holiday. During this period many young women get their first indoor tan—a “base”—in anticipation of their trip.

We focused in on this key demographic because large-scale independent studies have found them the most likely to tan, and melanoma is the second most common cancer for this group. We wanted to intervene before serious tanning damage was done—and hopefully avoid it completely.

Indoor tanning is an epidemic. Despite the well-documented links between tanning beds and deadly cancers, one million American young adults tan every day.

Information isn’t the problem; hundreds of major media outlets covered the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2014 Call-to-Action that outlined the dangers of indoor tanning. At the very least, most people accept that UV radiation from tanning beds is harmful, and yet young people continue to tan at alarming rates.

It was evident that traditional approaches weren’t enough. To truly to make a long-lasting, life-changing impact, it was important to make this issue personal and hard-hitting.