A Face Melts Real Good in This Twisted Aussie Sunscreen Ad

Equal measures sick and hilarious

Here comes the sun … to fry your damn face!

A reclusive gamer suffers that fate when he emerges to soak up some rays in a gnarly :90 from Australian sunscreen brand Slather.

It’s crazed stuff, with a malevolent sun swaggering through suburbia and gore makeup worthy of a so-bad-it’s-awesome horror flick:

Oh, dude—game over. Put another way: well done.

Melbourne agency SickDogWolfman developed the brand, and teamed with directing duo Will & Sej of Haven’t You Done Well on creative chores.

So, why would an agency launch sunscreen?

“Following a series of personal experiences, first-hand category observations, and an ongoing desire to create something for ourselves and the people close to us, we launched our own brand—a high-protection broad spectrum SPF50+ sunscreen and moisturizer,” SickDogWolfman/Slather founder James Orr tells Muse. “We’re hell bent on making sun protection messaging worth people’s time.”

He continues: “Australia is No. 1 in the world for skin cancer. Two in three of us will be treated in our lifetime. And it’s mostly men who contract and die from skin cancer. Despite these stats, most SPF marketing is still either clinical and/or feminine in its approach.”

With that in mind, the team went for a bro-centric message?

“SPF sunscreen marketing has traditionally grasped at very low-hanging fruit. Bikinis by the beach. Families by the pool. Summer holidays. But that’s not really the truth is it?” Orr says. “The sun doesn’t just magically appear when you’re on vacation. The sun is there when you’re working outside building a shed. It’s there when you’re doing spin kicks in the mosh pit at a day-long festival. In Australia, especially, the sun is ever present. And Slather is here to speak to this truth.”

In the ad, co-director Will plays the unfortunate Gary.

“And yes, he shaved his eyebrows off for the end scene,” Orr says. “No one asked him to, either. He insisted.”

Production Alley assisted with sound and crafted the ’90s-style end jingle. Orr made the menacingly memorable sun head, with creative director Jess Wheeler providing the character’s voice.