A report by Choice has revealed some popular sunscreen brands may be failing to meet the SPF protection claims displayed on their labels. An RMIT expert explains how this impacts both the brands and their customers.
Foula Kopanidis, Associate Professor, Marketing
"In a country with some of the highest skin cancer rates in the world, the responsibility to deliver effective, trustworthy information on sun protection should not be optional, but a social and moral obligation.
"The report from Choice should be a wake-up call to Australian sunscreen brands to honour their brand promises. It will be interesting to see if the ACCC determines that consumers have been misled.
"This issue is particularly pressing to Australians; two thirds of us will be diagnosed with skin cancer during our lifetime.
"Consumers should rightly expect brands to deliver on their promises by offering products that are high-quality, reliable, and perform as claimed.
"This is not merely to maintain customer loyalty and ensure long-term commercial viability, but to genuinely fulfil their role in providing a preventative solution to one of Australia's most pressing national health challenges."
Foula Kopanidis is an Associate Professor of Marketing at RMIT University whose research is focused on the proactive health and wellbeing behaviour of consumers, including midlife healthy aging, age identity, age-based stereotype threat.
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