Editing Slip-Slop-Slap

{{Short description|Australian and New Zealand campaign to reduce unhealthy sun exposure along with a mnemonic slogan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Slipslopslap.jpg|thumb|Sid the Seagull, mascot character for the campaign.]]
[[File:“A beautiful day for the beach Slip, Slop, Slap” at Mooloolaba Beach, Queensland, 2020 cropped.jpg|thumb|“A beautiful day for the beach Slip, Slop, Slap” slogan at [[Mooloolaba Beach]], Queensland, 2020]]

'''''Slip-Slop-Slap''''' (originally '''''Slip! Slop! Drop!''''') is a [[mnemonic]] [[slogan]] for reducing [[Health effects of sunlight exposure|unhealthy sun exposure]] by ''slipping'' on a shirt or [[rash guard]], ''slopping'' on [[sunscreen]], and ''slapping'' on a [[sun hat]]. It was prominent in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] during the 1980s, originating as the [[jingle]] in a televised [[public service announcement]] in which an [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] mascot named Sid the Seagull would sing and dance to the phrase.<ref name="LunnAustralian">{{cite web |url= http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23015412-23289,00.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20121215165045/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23015412-23289,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 December 2012 |title= Sun worshippers need a slap of reality |author= Stephen Lunn |work= [[The Australian]] |date= 7 January 2008 }}</ref> 

The campaign, originally funded by public donations, was launched by [[Cancer Council Victoria]] in 1981 to combat high rates of [[skin cancer in Australia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sunsmart.com.au/tools/videos/past-tv-campaigns |title=Past TV campaigns |publisher=SunSmart}}</ref> and achieved high nationwide [[awareness raising|awareness]] over its original run. It was briefly and less successfully revived in 2010, with Sid the Seagull singing to a revised jingle "Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide", adding ''seeking'' [[Shade (shadow)|shade]] and ''sliding'' on [[wraparound sunglasses]] to the advice. An alternate version known as "Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap" was used in New Zealand,<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.3news.co.nz/Outdoor-workers-shun-sun-protection/tabid/423/articleID/295262/Default.aspx|work=3 News NZ |title= Outdoor workers shun sun protection| date=April 23, 2013}}</ref> where the mascot was a [[tiger prawn]] named Tiger, voiced by Anthony Samuels from ''[[What Now (TV programme)|What Now]]''. Some Canadian cities have also started their own Slip-Slop-Slap campaigns. In Britain, it was featured in a ''[[BBC Breakfast]]'' report on 27 June 2011.

In November 2023, the ''[[National Film and Sound Archive]]'' added the ''Slip! Slop! Slap! Jingle'' performed by [[Peter Best (composer)|Peter Best]] and [[Phillip Adams (writer)|Phillip Adams]] to the ''[[Sounds of Australia]]'' register for songs of "cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance".<ref name="o980">{{cite web | title=National Film and Sound Archive of Australia | website=NFSA Sounds of Australia | url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sounds-of-australia | access-date=2024-07-20}}</ref>

== Effect on cancer rates ==
Since this campaign was introduced along with advertisements and a [[jingle]], the incidence of the two most common forms of skin cancer ([[basal-cell carcinoma]] and [[squamous cell carcinoma]]) in Australia has decreased. However, the incidence of [[melanoma]], the most lethal form of skin cancer, has increased.<ref name=Garland>{{cite journal |vauthors=Garland C, Garland F, Gorham E |title=Could sunscreens increase melanoma risk? |url= |journal=Am J Public Health |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=614–5 |year=1992 |pmid=1546792|doi=10.2105/AJPH.82.4.614 |pmc=1694089}}</ref> However, statistical analysis from the Australian Government's ''[[Australian Institute of Health and Welfare]]'' found this increased incidence risk is almost entirely in the older (over-60 years) population, who lived the majority of their lives before the importance of sun safety was widely known, whereas the rate of incidence of melanoma by age 30 has consistently dropped from its peak in 1997, having halved in the time to 2020. Meanwhile, risk of melanoma incidence by age 60 has remained stable since 2011.<ref name=AIHWReport>{{cite web |url=https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia/contents/cancer-data-commentaries/risk-of-melanoma |title=Cancer data in Australia Risk of melanoma of the skin by age and over time |website=Australian Government Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |date=30 October 2020 |access-date=3 Jan 2023}}</ref> An epidemiological study published in 2002 concluded that skin cancer increases could not be associated with the use of sun creams, and recommended continued use of the current campaigns as a means to reduce melanoma risk.<ref name=Bastuji-Garin>{{cite journal |author=Bastuji-Garin, S |author2=Diepgen, TL |title=Cutaneous malignant melanoma, sun exposure, and sunscreen use: epidemiological evidence |url= http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118938441/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0  |archive-url= https://archive.today/20121021212242/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118938441/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0  |url-status= dead  |archive-date= 2012-10-21  |journal=British Journal of Dermatology |volume=146 |issue=6 |pages=24–30 |year=2002 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-2133.146.s61.9.x|s2cid=28050694 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The experience of more than 25 years of skin cancer prevention in Australia shows broad-based multifaceted public education programs can improve a population's sun protective behaviors and reducing [[sunburn]], a short-term marker of skin cancer risk.<ref name="ReferenceA">Hill DJ, Dobbinson SJ, Makin J. Interventions to lower ultraviolet radiation exposure: Education, legislation and public policy. ASCO 2009 Education Book 2009:  526-531.</ref> Furthermore, declining skin cancer incidence in younger cohorts and economic assessment show skin cancer prevention programs are an eminently worthwhile investment.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

== See also ==
* [[Health effects of sun exposure]]
* [[Skin cancer in Australia]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/sun-safety/campaigns-and-events/slip-slop-slap-seek-slide Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide] - [[Cancer Council (Australia)]]
* [https://www.sunsmart.org.nz/be-sunsmart/ Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap] - SunSmart [[New Zealand]]

{{Australian topics}}

[[Category:Australian television commercials]]
[[Category:1980s television commercials]]
[[Category:Public service announcements]]
[[Category:Australian advertising slogans]]
[[Category:New Zealand advertising slogans]]
[[Category:1981 quotations]]
[[Category:Australian slang]]
[[Category:Sun tanning]]
[[Category:Healthcare in Australia]]
[[Category:Health campaigns]]
[[Category:Mascots introduced in 1981]]
[[Category:Male characters in advertising]]
[[Category:Fictional Australian people]]
[[Category:Bird mascots]]