The campaign, ‘Don’t Let A Spot Become A Full Stop’ has seen Melanoma New Zealand partner with brands to show the dangers of ignoring mutating spots that could indicate melanoma.
In their advertisements, the brands have replaced full stops with slowly mutating black splodges to visually represent how melanoma develops on the skin. The full stops were created with a font specifically designed to look like melanoma moles.
They have appeared in ads by Lotto Powerball, L&P and No Ugly, as well as via the media channels of NZME (which owns the New Zealand Herald), the MetService daily weather report and on billboards by the Out of Home Media Asociation of Aotearoa.
The campaign was designed to emphasise just how easy it is to miss changes to skin spots.
Don’t let a spot become a full stop. New Zealand’s melanoma incidence rate is the world’s highest, with more than 4000 New Zealanders diagnosed with melanoma every year.
We also appreciate your support to help fight melanoma – please text a . to 2923 to donate $3 to Melanoma NZ pic.twitter.com/2hpvthJHeT— Melanoma New Zealand (@Melanoma_NZ) February 14, 2021
The campaign was engineered by agency TBWA, who created it pro bono in support of the cause.
Melanoma New Zealand has also launched a Spot Check Van, which will travel to communities around the country providing free spot checks.
In a statement, Melanoma New Zealand Chief Executive Andrea Newland said, “although it was deliberately easy to miss the spots in the advertising, we want that to be a clear message to all New Zealanders that missing new or changing spots on your skin could be deadly.”
“It’s heartbreaking to hear melanoma patients share that they didn’t notice a change until it was too late. If melanoma is caught and treated early enough, then a spot doesn’t have to become a full stop”.
