Computer Tan Free Online Tanning Session – Avoid Getting Skin Cancer

This was a promotional site put up to educate people on skin cancer, but as the story states, many really bought in to this and were fooled. Actually the site was established to create the first skin cancer charity in the UK, a good cause. There’s no tan or Vitamin D coming from your screen. BD

Hundreds of thousands of Internet users in search of the perfect tan logged on to the Web site, http://www.computertan.com after an advertising campaign promised them the chance to get their tans topped up while sitting at their desk, thanks to "revolutionary new technology."

McCann Erickson and U.K. skin cancer charity Skcin launched "a fake company called ComputerTan" and then designed an elaborate Web site to draw the attention of Internet users, McCann Erickson New Business Director Simon Hill told ABC News.

When users click on the site, they are first directed to an infomercial fronted by a fictional spokesperson, "TV Presenter Hannah Yasmin," who offers them a free trial of the Tan-tastic service. All they need to do is cozy up to their screen, literally, as the site promises them a dose of ultraviolet light "encouraging the production of vitamin D and creating a deeper, longer-lasting natural tan" if they look closely at the screen.

As the screen fills up with images of UV tanning tubes, users are suddenly confronted with graphic photographs of skin cancers, a link to Skcin's Web site and the message, "Don't be fooled, UV exposure can kill."