A new survey supports the view that people enjoy the look, control and self-esteem that is derived from tanning indoors. These results depict a much different attitude than what is being reported in beauty magazines and other media. TWI Franchising Inc., DBA tanworld franchises, one of the nation’s professional indoor tanning salon franchisers, recently released these results from part three of a series of surveys polling its customers.
“Indoor tanning has been positioned to the public as being stronger than natural sunlight. We asked our customers if they knew the difference between indoor and outdoor UV and whether or not they felt like they looked better and had higher self-esteem with a tan,” says Cheri Cosgrove, president and CEO of the company.
In this survey, more than three-fourths of respondents acknowledged they knew it was impossible for indoor tanning rays to “microwave” your internal organs, despite media reports to the contrary. “This myth of microwaves coming from tanning beds has been in the public’s awareness for years. I’m glad to see that people are finally finding out the truth,” Cosgrove shares. To that point, 75 percent also knew that indoor tanning rays were not stronger than natural sunlight (the latter of which offers no control on intensity). “Our employees are doing a great job explaining factual information on indoor tanning and making sure customers understand the similarity as well as the differences between this process and natural sunlight,” reports Kendra Ely, corporate trainer of TWI Franchising Inc.
Recently the media has likened the desire to tan indoors to drug addictions such as heroin and cocaine. Cosgrove felt that this may be due to the research that indoor tanning actually produces endorphins and a sense of euphoria, just as those that enjoy distance running may feel. However, an overwhelming 92 percent confirmed that the desire to look good and feel good doesn’t place them in the same category as drug addicts. 97 percent also responded they felt relaxed and energized when tanning indoors.
Much has also been made in many health and beauty magazines of the supposed “trend” that fashion models are no longer appearing to have any sort of a tan. However, 71 percent surveyed stated that fashion models look much better with a tan. “When it comes to weight-loss ads, I’ve never seen a ‘before’ and ‘after’ picture without the model appearing pale first and darker later,” mentions tanworld customer Aly Holmgren.
“We’ve known how much our customers enjoy the stress-free atmosphere and look good/feel good response to indoor tanning. It was great to see all of this confirmed on the survey,” adds Stephanie Henshaw, owner of tanworld salons in Overland Park and Olathe, Kan. She was pleased with the results. “It’s so important to be able to provide factual information on indoor tanning to the public; and it’s really interesting to see our customers are not relying on hype, myths and conjecture to make decisions on indoor tanning.”
