AVEENO Brand partners with The Skin Cancer Foundation for Road to Healthy Skin Tour program

AVEENO(R)May 3 2010

To coincide with Skin Cancer Awareness Month, the AVEENO® Brand announces its third-year partnership with The Skin Cancer Foundation for the Road to Healthy Skin Tour, a program that has been instrumental in educating people nationwide about skin cancer detection and prevention. This year, the Tour will visit over 80 locations through September.

Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. The incidence of skin cancer can be dramatically reduced through education, behavior modification, and early detection.  With that in mind, the AVEENO® Brand has partnered with The Skin Cancer Foundation for the third consecutive year to drive skin cancer awareness around the country.  As part of the Tour, consumers will have the opportunity to receive full-body skin cancer screenings in a private room inside of the Tour's 38-foot customized RV, conducted by local dermatologists, who have volunteered their time and expertise.  Over the past two years, more than 6,500 people have received free screenings, and of those screened, more than 2,000 potential skin cancers and precancers were found, including 116 suspected cases of melanoma.  

"We are proud of the amount of people we screened over the past two years," says dermatologist Jeanine Downie. "Unfortunately, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime and although skin cancer is still the most common form of cancer in the United States, it is also the most preventable and curable form of cancer if it is detected early. We hope to see an increase in the practice of preventative measures so that we can soon report a decrease in the number of new cases of skin cancer as a result of these Tours."

Despite these staggering statistics, 40 percent of people admit that they never use sunscreen and only 11 percent use an SPF 15 or higher on a daily basis, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.

"AVEENO® Sun care is proud to partner with The Skin Cancer Foundation to serve as a presenting sponsor of the Tour for the third year in a row," says Mike Marquis, AVEENO® Brand Group Product Director. "We have an ongoing commitment to providing consumers with SPF education and emphasizing the importance of wearing sunscreen every day, all year long. The AVEENO® Brand continues to provide consumers with the latest and greatest sun care protection by offering sunscreens with higher SPFs and advanced technology, such as our breakthrough ENVIROBLOCK™ Triple Defense technology, which can be found in the new AVEENO® POSITIVELY AGELESS™ Sunscreen products."

At each Tour stop, consumers will be invited to visit the RV and receive a quick, easy and potentially lifesaving full-body skin cancer screening.  Educational materials will also be provided so that visitors can learn how to perform monthly skin checks at-home and how to properly protect themselves from the sun's harmful rays on a daily basis.  The AVEENO® Brand will be distributing samples of its CONTINUOUS PROTECTION® Sunblock Lotion SPF 55 as well as its new POSITIVELY AGELESS™ Sunblock Lotion SPF 70 for Face, featuring the latest breakthrough in sun protection: ENVIROBLOCK™ Triple defense technology. ENVIROBLOCK™ Technology combines the super antioxidant complex of ACTIVE NATURALS® ingredients such as Feverfew, Soy, or Vitamin E with the brand's best broad-spectrum photostable UVA and UVB protection.  ENVIROBLOCK™ Technology works in 3 powerful ways to help protect skin against damaging effects of the environment, while fighting signs of aging.  

As part of their ongoing commitment to sustainability, the AVEENO® Brand has partnered with TerraCycle™, an organization that upcycles, giving new life to old products by recreating them into eco-friendly items and accessories.  Through this partnership, the AVEENO® Brand was able to find a sustainable solution for what would have otherwise been useless waste material. Taking part in initiatives like this, the AVEENO® Brand hopes to inspire consumers to start making their own personal strides in sustainable practices in their communities.  In select Tour stop cities, consumers will be able to drop off empty AVEENO® Product tubes, (all of the elongated tubes from sun care, facial care, baby and body care products), making them into eco-friendly household items and accessories that will then be available for purchase at major retailers nationwide.  For each tube received during the Road to Healthy Skin Tour, the AVEENO® Brand will donate two cents to The Skin Cancer Foundation.