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Charity Creates Fake 'Computer Tan' Site to Battle Skin Cancer

by Terrence O'Brien on February 5, 2009 at 01:28 PM

Charity Creates Fake 'Computer Tan' Site to Battle Skin Cancer

The lengths people will go to in order to advocate a cause are quite bizarre. While not nearly as crazy as Señor Gates' outburst yesterday, a UK-based skin cancer charity, Skcin, takes the prize for today's best nutty act of advocacy.

The group has put together a fake Web site, called ComputerTan.com, complete with promotional video, fake products, a hoax online tanning program, and even the promise of an iPhone-based version in the future. 'Computer Tan' promises to keep you looking tan (or orange) year-round by using the backlight on your LCD to create UV rays and cook your skin to an unhealthy shade of brown.

Of course, there are plenty of people who fell for the fake site -- over 30,000 visited and registered their interest in the product in the first 24 hours.

While skin cancer is a major concern, we can tell you walking around in the dead of winter looking like you just spent two weeks on a Mediterranean beach in the middle of summer is just plain creepy. So save yourself a case of cancer and save our eyes from your unseasonable swarthiness and keep the tanning to a minimum. [From: Shiny Shiny and Times Online]

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Tags: computer tan, ComputerTan, computertan.com, fake tan, FakeTan, health, hoax, prank, skcin, skin cancer, SkinCancer, tanning, top

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