mycar's 'Sunburnt Car' (2026): prosthetic-skin interior shows UV damage while driving

Research commissioned by mycar found a gap between belief and behaviour: 92% of Australians call themselves sun-safe, yet 72% overlook protection while driving or riding, 70% believe the car shields them, 39% think windows block UV, and 65% do not apply sunscreen before driving. Australians drive on average 12,000 km a year; a tyre-and-servicing brand had no obvious health mandate, so mycar used the gap to prove it cares about customers beyond the workshop.

Make the invisible real: upholster a car interior in hyper-real prosthetic skin and let UV burn, freckle and age it where drivers can see.

TBWA\Eleven Australia worked with Odd Studio, the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning prosthetic-effects house, to reupholster a car interior in synthetic human-like skin. Freckles, moles and hair were applied individually, some moles intentionally resembling early signs of skin cancer; under UV the interior visibly reddens and damages. The car launched as an installation at Circular Quay in Sydney. Burns and reconstructive surgeon Dr Joanneke Maitz advised, noting UVA penetrates glass while UVB mostly does not; stage IV melanoma survivor and author Anne Gately joined as ambassador.

The campaign took Australia's first Gold Lion of Cannes Lions 2026: one of seven Outdoor Golds from 1,410 entries (40 Lions total). A second Lion followed in Industry Craft, where 649 entries produced only two Golds. mycar then distributed 55,000 UV-sensitive 'Sun Spot' stickers through more than 275 locations, after research found 66% of Australians would use an in-car visual reminder.

mycar's research exposed a blind spot: 92% of Australians consider themselves sun-safe, but 72% overlook protection while driving or riding, 70% believe the car protects them, 39% think windows block UV, and 65% do not apply sunscreen before driving. Australians drive roughly 12,000 km a year, so the exposure is routine — and invisible, because UVA crosses window glass.

TBWA\Eleven Australia and Odd Studio built The Sunburnt Car: a vehicle interior reupholstered in hyper-real prosthetic skin whose freckles, moles and hairs were applied by hand, some moles deliberately resembling early skin-cancer signs. Launched at Circular Quay in Sydney, the car visibly reddened and damaged under UV, advised by surgeon-scientist Dr Joanneke Maitz and fronted by stage IV melanoma survivor Anne Gately, author of Sunburnt.

The installation won Australia's first Gold Lion of Cannes Lions 2026 — one of seven Outdoor Golds from 1,410 entries — plus a Silver in Industry Craft. It did not stop at the stunt: 55,000 UV-sensitive 'Sun Spot' stickers began rolling out through 275+ mycar locations, prompted by research that 66% of Australians wanted a visual reminder before driving.

It made an invisible risk visible instead of warning about it: drivers watched a car interior's skin redden, freckle and age under UV in real time.

The message corrected a belief gap in the audience's own head — 92% felt sun-safe while 65% skipped sunscreen — so the campaign felt revelatory, not lecturing.

It kept working after the installation: free UV-sensing stickers at every location turned one shocking moment into a daily prompt, extending a health message from a car brand.

A service brand can own a health message when the insight is made physical: prosthetic craft so convincing that invisible UV damage becomes visible turns a tyre chain into a brand that visibly cares.

The Sunburnt Car became the story of Australia's opening day at Cannes Lions 2026 and earned mycar, TBWA\Eleven and their production partners a second Lion days later; trade press archived it as the festival's first Australian Gold. The sticker rollout continued through mycar's network, and the brand's wider behaviour-led work — including its earlier 'Return Plates' road-safety initiative — framed the campaign as part of a pattern, not a one-off.