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Ladyhawke gig to raise awareness of skin cancer

By Lucy Halfhead on Tuesday 16 June 2009

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Ladyhawke - News - Marie Claire

Ladyhawke will play an exclusive gig for just one person – and their online social network.

The new Skindividual initiative, from SunSmart (Cancer Research UK’s skin cancer awareness campaign), aims to encourage young people to protect their skin from too much UV by harnessing the power of social networks and rewarding those who grow the biggest online guestlist.  

The campaign launches in response to a survey suggesting that young people are engaging in ‘competitive tanning’ with their mates – a worrying situation given the link between too much UV and skin cancer.

Rates of malignant melanoma – the most serious type of skin cancer - have more than doubled among young people in the past 20 years, and it is now the most common form of cancer in Britain among 15-34 year-olds.  

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A specially created new networking site, www.skindiv.co.uk will allow users to grow gig guestlists via their existing profiles on social networks – such as Facebook, MySpace, bebo and Twitter - along with any other imaginative ways they can think of.   The ten people with the largest guestlists on 17 July will be invited to submit a short film – taken on a mobile phone, camera or webcam – expressing why their network should win the gig.   

The Skindividual gig takes place at The Garage in Islington on 26 August, where Ladyhawke will be joined by some of the UK’s freshest young talent, including winners of Channel 4’s Road to V, Bombay Bicycle Club. Further acts will be announced over the coming weeks.  

A new survey into the sun habits of 16-24 year-olds, which was conducted via the The Student Room, the UK’s no. 1 student website, reveals more than a quarter of young people placed getting a tan as one of their top priorities during the summer holidays, with 28% admitting their peers can be competitive over who has the best tan.

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