Technology, health, and the patient consumer in the twentieth century

Abstract

By the early 1990s, a drastic increase in malignant melanoma rates—mainly in the UK, Europe, America, and Australia—sparked significant concern about skin cancer. In Britain, medical experts and the media attempted to curtail overall sunbed use but failed. Skincare providers and research institutions, on the other hand, realized that they could capitalize on people’s concerns by providing the most advanced “UV-free” tanning technologies. This chapter focuses on two of these technologies: dihydroxyacetone (DHA) fake tanning serums and the entirely novel invention of MelanoTan injections. An evaluation of media coverage and publications in medical journals demonstrates how such “UV-free” technologies were introduced as entirely “safe” alternatives to sunbeds and sunbathing. As Creed argues, however, both products counterintuitively promoted former risk-laden practices, and reinvigorated tanning culture overall. Tanning injections, moreover, introduced a new host of health risks for twenty-first century consumers. Such technologies therefore provide insight into the history of controversial health, beauty, and risk reduction technologies. They also demonstrate the extent to which commercial industries have simultaneously taken the lead in resolving and profiting from public health concerns since the second half of the twentieth century.