Sunburn contest branded 'irresponsible'

A competition that encouraged people to submit pictures of their sunburn to win a holiday has been banned by the advertising watchdog. The email promotion for travel comparison website Dealchecker.co.uk – which called on customers to email pictures of sunburn to likealobster@dealchecker.co.uk – offered prizes including a holiday for two for the winner and sunscreen for runners-up.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that the competition – which encouraged entrants to "earn with your burn" was irresponsible because it encouraged people to get sunburnt to win. Parent company DMC Digital argued that the aim of the competition was to promote sun safety and said it did not believe that the text of the email "either condoned or encouraged sunburn explicitly".



The company said that a string of previous emails about the competition showed that the emphasis was on the dangers of overexposure by asking only for old sunburn photos and referring to "tanning disasters" and "sunburn nightmares". DMC also said that during the six-week competition period there had been numerous blogposts and tweets on sun safety.

However, the ASA said that the email and homepage of the competition did not refer to sun safety or specifically ask for old photos. The watchdog also criticised the entry email address, the text "earn with your burn" and photos of sunburnt people. The ASA banned the competition, ruling it was irresponsible and that it "could be seen to trivialise sunburn".