Collective Sunstroke

Now that the weather is getting better, familiar people suddenly turn up with a little tan. A summer tan is a highly coveted asset these days. You can wear Prada and even own a Rolex, but if you don't have a tan, they have only half their value in modern social traffic. A tan makes you look healthy, it changes you into an attractive person. There are drawbacks too. In the first place it is not healthy. Your skin oldens faster. This is supposed to be common knowledge. As is the fact that too much sunlight can cause skin cancer. Each year you read about an increase in this diseases figure. Why do people take the risk I wonder. Fact is that for people with particular kinds of skin diseases a limited amount of sun can be beneficial to their skin condition. A minority might benefit by getting a tan, but for most people its not a good thing to do. Maybe it depends on what is more important to you: feeling healthy, being healthy or looking healthy. Demanding contemporary consumers probably want all of that. This desire for a tan knows no boundaries. Lots of Dutch homes are in the possession of a tanning bed. People who cant afford it pay a visit to a tanning studio. Or they take a package deal to Spain or Turkey. Getting a tan never was easier. A whole industry has developed to cater to this desire. And its within nearly everybody's reach. Few people care about the unhealthy side-effects; is that sloppy thinking or are we all just a bunch of stubborn donkeys in the sun?