Keep an i on those black dots

How melanomas crept into the Belgian press to remind readers of the dangers of skin cancer.

von Maud Largeaud , AdForum

By now you’ve heard the warnings: in the summer months, when you’re exposed to the sun, the risk of melanoma increases. Even if you’re not deliberately sunbathing. In fact, skin cancer is the fifth most common among Belgian patients. The first signs are usually a small black dot or abnormal mole on the skin. Fairly easy for a dermatologist to spot, but few Belgians get themselves checked out regularly. To encourage them, Famousgrey worked with a major newspaper to adapt headlines and replace the dot over the letter i with a discreet melanoma. Like the real thing, it was hard to spot at first. But an insert at the end of the paper drew attention to the initiative and made the paper’s 470,000 daily readers – that’s 8% of the country – more aware of melanoma detection.