It’s a shady proposition: the suntan.
Not since the Coppertone girl revealed her famous tan lines has the prospect of fun in the sun created such a stir. Only this time, the message from Madison Avenue and your local dermatologist is decidedly solar-phobic. Don’t go into the light, they say. If you must, arm yourself! With sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, and long sleeves. No longer the symbol of wealth and leisure, the savage tan is hanging out in Bad Habit Heaven, a cigarette in one hand, a Twinkie in the other, and Dynasty reruns on TV. SPF 4 or 8? So eighties.
These days, nothing less than 30 will do. But if there’s valor in pallor, there’s also big money to be made in sales of self-tanning lotions, now selling at the same clip as sunscreen.
(Hosted by John Donvan)
Guests:
Patricia Berman, Professor of Modern Art and the History of Photography at Wellesley College
Dr. Christina Hayes, Dermatologist at the New England Medical Center