ITA Recap: Industry Unites, Raises More Than $400K To Fight Tanning Critics

Research. Communication. Advertising. Those three words were the core of a powerful presentation given by Rick Berman, president of the Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm Berman and Co., at the 2007 Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) Tanning World Expo.

It was a presentation that left those in the audience feeling something that has been seriously lacking in the indoor tanning industry for far too long—hope.

Hope that the future of indoor tanning is within the control of the manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, salon owners and employees who comprise the industry, not the dermatology community that is bent on preaching sun avoidance. Hope that there finally may be a way to unify the tanning community and spread its message of moderate and responsible tanning practices to a public that is bombarded with tales of skin-cancer victims and pictures of wrinkled, leather-skinned old ladies.

“We don’t need to protect the right to tan,” said ITA President Dan Humiston at the start of the presentation, which took place Oct. 12 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. “We need to promote it.”

That is exactly what the ITA has hired Rick Berman to do. Berman and Co.’s work in public relations and issue advocacy challenges commonly held assumptions and encourages people to make up their own mind about controversial issues. To achieve this, the company stimulates debate through aggressive communications and creative advertising and has been recognized with numerous awards for its edgy and hard-hitting media campaigns. (Check them out at www.bermanco.com.) Berman’s indoor tanning campaign program, set to launch in 2008, is still being developed. The long-term goal is to increase the demand for indoor tanning. Berman and Co. plans to achieve this goal by jumpstarting a backlash against the current anti-tanning “hype,” and increasing awareness of the positive benefits of vitamin D.

Sound like the perfect counterattack to the anti-tanning message? Everyone in the audience thought so, too. At the end of the presentation, when the ITA asked for donations to help pay for Berman and Co.’s representation, the audience made its belief in the campaign clear. In the span of a few minutes, the ITA raised approximately $320,000.

“The outpouring of support by the industry for the Berman project is truly overwhelming,” Humiston says. “In all my years working in the industry, I have never seen anything quite like it. I would have to say the stars just lined up ... it was the right time, the right audience and the right company. Rick Berman and his team knocked the audience off their feet.”

Not only did Berman and his team impress the crowd, they instilled a sense of mutual understanding that everyone in the industry is in this fight together. That message was further driven home when James Oliver of Beach Bum Tanning pledged $25,000 to the campaign, stating that his true competition is those who oppose indoor tanning—not the salon down the street. The heartfelt applause that followed affirmed that his fellow salon owners in the room were on the exact same page.

Since that day, contributions have continued to pour in to the ITA in support of the Berman campaign and, as of press time, the current total raised was $420,600. (For a list of contributors and amounts pledged, visit www.lookingfit.com/industryunites.) “There is no cut-off date set for contributions,” says John Overstreet, director of the ITA. “This campaign is ongoing, and we are in it for the long haul … so spread the word and make a pledge.”

The energy in the presentation room that day was palpable, and weeks later, still shows no signs of dying down. As 2008 approaches, the indoor tanning community is uniting as an industry to fight sun scare tactics because of the realization that simply defending indoor tanning won’t win the battle. It’s an age-old sports phrase, but the best defense truly is a good offense—and the Berman team offensive is exactly what the industry needs.