TBWA\Eleven Australia and mycar Tyre & Auto have launched The Sunburnt Car, a campaign built around a simple but dangerously overlooked truth: while Australians are highly aware of sun safety outdoors, many forget the risks once they get behind the wheel.
New national research commissioned by mycar Tyre & Auto reveals a sharp gap between perceived and actual protection in the car.
While 92 per cent of Australians say they consider themselves sun safe, 72 per cent overlook sun protection while driving or riding in a vehicle. The research also found 70 per cent believe they are protected from the sun while in the car, despite standard windows not fully blocking harmful UV rays, while 39 per cent incorrectly believe car windows block those rays altogether. In practice, 65 per cent do not apply sunscreen before driving.
It points to a familiar Australian behaviour hiding in plain sight: people protect themselves at the beach, at the park and on high-heat days, but not during one of the most routine forms of exposure in daily life — in the car.
Making the invisible impossible to ignore
To make that blind spot impossible to ignore, TBWA\Eleven Australia and mycar Tyre & Auto created The Sunburnt Car, a vehicle completely reupholstered in synthetic skin designed to visibly react to UV exposure.
Launching at Circular Quay in Sydney, the work turns a car into a visceral demonstration of cumulative UV risk. As the interior is exposed to UV, the synthetic skin burns, revealing the kind of damage that is easy to dismiss when it builds gradually over time.
TBWA creative director Simon Hayes said: “The idea was to make the invisible UV risk we take every day visible in an unignorable — and frankly, unhinged — way.”
The campaign was developed in partnership with Odd Studio, the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning prosthetic, creature effects and character design studio based in Marrickville, and informed by Dr Joanneke Maitz, surgeon-scientist in Burns and Reconstructive Surgery at Concord Hospital.
TBWA creative director Archana Murugaser said: “Our incredible partners took the craft to the next level, ensuring every part of the synthetic skin reflected exactly what happens to human skin when exposed to UV.”
Odd Studio used the Fitzpatrick Scale to guide the representation of different Australian skin tones, creating an interior designed to feel recognisably human rather than theatrical. Each freckle, mole and hair was individually applied, with some moles intentionally resembling those that could be cancerous, reinforcing the campaign’s health message without overstating it.
That realism was critical to the idea: an ordinary vehicle interior rendered in skin, then exposed to UV to show the damage many Australians do not realise can occur while driving.
Dr Joanneke Maitz said: “Many Australians do not realise that UV exposure in the car creates damage over time, and it can be just as harmful as time spent outdoors if UV levels are high. Damage to your skin can happen without the visible effects of burning.
“Although UVB, the main cause of visible sunburn, does not typically penetrate glass, UVA does, reaching deeper layers of the skin where it contributes to long-term DNA damage and ageing. Window tinting and treatments can reduce this exposure, but driving with windows or the roof open allows the full UV spectrum through.”
Adele Coswello, chief customer officer at mycar Tyre & Auto, said: “At mycar, our commitment extends beyond tyres and vehicle servicing — we genuinely care about our customers. Our research showed in-car sun exposure is an area where more awareness is needed.
“Australians spend significant time behind the wheel driving on average 12,000kms a year, behind only the US and Canada, and our research showed this is an area where more awareness is needed. Sunburnt Car was created to bring that message to life in a way that could prompt action.”
The campaign also features Anne Gately, author of Sunburnt and a stage IV melanoma survivor, as an ambassador for the work.
Gately said: “As someone who survived stage IV melanoma, I know firsthand how easy it is to underestimate the sun and what it takes to truly protect yourself. The Sunburnt Car makes this danger visible and tangible, and I stand behind a project that could genuinely save lives by reminding Australians that sun safety is not optional.”
The campaign does not stop at awareness. Research also showed that 66 per cent of Australians would find a visual in-car reminder useful to prompt sunscreen use or other protective measures before driving.
In response, mycar Tyre & Auto is rolling out 55,000 free Sun Spot stickers at its 275+ locations nationwide and online. The UV-sensitive stickers change colour when UV is detected, giving drivers and passengers a simple cue to think about protection before exposure builds.
Combining behavioural insight, practical utility and technical craft, The Sunburnt Car tackles a national blind spot hiding in one of Australia’s most everyday environments.
Credits
Client: mycar Tyre & Auto - Head of Marketing: Cynthia Fernandez
Agency: TBWA\Eleven Australia
Production: Bolt
Director: Daniel Reisinger
Special make-up and creature effects company: Odd Studio
Print production: Kwik Kopy
