There’s no getting around it. People in Birmingham love the giant ball of blazing gas in the sky. Facts. The second we see it, our brain tells our body to run to the nearest beer garden, stand with a cold beer in our hand, and say sentences like: “Well, this is the life” or “It’s like being in Spain” or “the Sun’s hot today.” However, when it comes to protecting themselves from that same cosmic heat source, we’re not good at it.
So, to help people in Birmingham avoid getting sunburnt this summer, Beavertown Brewery is launching its very own sunscreen ‘Oil Your Neck’, targeted at beer drinkers who simply can’t resist an al fresco pint. Free sachets of the sunscreen will be available with pints of their flagship beer, Neck Oil IPA, in select Birmingham-based beer gardens and pubs including Old Crown (188 High Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0LD), Herbert’s Yard (49 Austin Way, Longbridge, Birmingham, B31 2QR), and The Flapper (8 Kingston Row, Birmingham, B1 2NU) with the aim of reminding beer drinkers to use skin protection while they enjoy their summer pints.
‘Oil Your Neck’ is an SPF 50 UVA and UVB sunscreen created in partnership with LifeJacket Skin Protection after new research commissioned by Beavertown Brewery found that only 27% of people in Birmingham always wear skin protection while enjoying a drink in the sun.
The study has also revealed that 48% of them have been sunburnt while sitting outside in a pub garden.
The research also found that the face, neck and shoulders were the top three areas most likely to get burnt while sitting in a beer garden – an activity that half (50%) of people in Birmingham consider to be one of the best things about the summer months. Oil Your Neck will also be available in dispensers in participating pub gardens across Birmingham, with each sachet or pump containing 5ml – specifically designed to be enough for those red areas e.g your face, neck or arms.
Tom Rainsford, Beavertown Brewery’s Marketing Director, said: “Summer is one of the best feelings in the world, and even better when you’ve got a pint in your hand… less so when you’re sunburnt. Our research found that nearly half of people in Birmingham (49%) know they need to become better at applying sun cream on a sunny day, which is why we’re installing free dispensers and giving away thousands of free sunscreens in pub gardens across the UK. We’ve got your back. And Neck. And Face.”
Gill Nuttall, CEO and founder of Melanoma UK, said: “Melanoma UK is delighted to partner with Beavertown Brewery to raise awareness of sunscreen usage and sunburn prevention. Young adults, and men specifically, are a very difficult audience to reach to educate on the risks of sunburn. Oil Your Neck targets this audience in an environment they can identify with, enabling us to engage with them and provide potentially life-saving educational information, helping to evoke behavioural change when it comes to the importance of sun safety.”
Beavertown Brewery has partnered with LifeJacket Skin Protection by providing its high-performance SPF 50+ Sun Gel for their Oil Your Neck sunscreen sachets and dispensers. LifeJacket Skin Protection is a British brand with a singular vision to halt the increase in skin cancer, one of the world’s most common (and preventable) cancers. In the UK, rates have doubled since the 90s and are forecast to double again over the next 20 years.
Co-founder, LifeJacket Skin Protection, Billy Boulos said: “We are big fans of anyone raising awareness of the importance of skin protection, so we were thrilled that Beavertown wanted to use our SPF 50+ Sun Gel to encourage people to oil their neck, back & frankly, any part of the body exposed to the sun! At LifeJacket Skin Protection, our mission is to give people the knowledge, tools, and products to better protect their skin every day. We’re all about positivity and want people to get outside and do what they love but protect their skin at the same time.”
Oil Your Neck is launching in pubs across Birmingham throughout July.* The brewery will also be giving away 2,000 sachets with orders from their webshop from Monday 10th July until stocks last – check out their new summer collection here.